Miles Sampa’s milestone achievement: Matero’s MetroCabs

By Hjoe Moono

A few years ago, somewhere around 2008, Hon. Miles Sampa, then in commercial banking, expressed interest to stand in Materos Constituency under the PF’s ticket.

In his expression of interest, Mr.Sampa stated that he had Matero close to his heart and that while he had done well for himself as a banker and was living comfortably in Kabulonga, he could not fanthom the idea of seeing Matero Constituency, a place close to his being in such a deplorable state. He stated that he was ready, willing and able to leave his lucrative banking career to join politics under the PF, then an opposition party, to help effectively represent Matero constituency.

For a while I thought, well, there goes the usual rhetoric from aspiring candidates: Saying the right things at the right time to woo votes. But on second thought, the fact that it wasn’t an election year, and that he was willing to join an opposition party gave me a benefit of doubt.
Well now he is Member of Parliament, for Matero, and deputy Minister, under the PF: Perhaps he had good vision after all!

What has caught my attention, and deserves mention, recognition and ululation are his efforts in keeping his promise to help better Matero Constituency. A number of initiatives have been show cased to us on facebook, and of course he got praises for that. The MetroCab idea, however, as an economist, caught my attention, and I would argue that it is perhaps the most supreme of all initiatives he has implemented in Matero, and cannot go without mention.

Hon. Miles Sampa’s idea of MetroCabs is a perfect illustration of selfless leadership aimed at elevating the living standard of the people that an MP represents. Let us be clear, from the start, that this is NOT an MP’s job! That Hon. Sampa has gone outside his Terms of References as MP to personally, and individually, through his network and banking experience to empower PSV drivers in Matero with Cabs surely deserves praise and recognition.

While many MPs probably have private businesses, we have not seen how any of them have used these to empower the youths of the constituencies they represent. For this, we ought to rightly recognise the innovation of Hon. Miles Sampa in his quest for empowerment of the youths of his constituency. That he has earmarked his expected gratuity as an MP as collateral for the acquired loan from Indo-Zambia Bank to secure the MetroCabs is poignantly selfless, and at this point I would say that he has eased the greatest hurdle most of us face in starting a business: Access to Finance. How many MPs have done this for their constituencies? We have professional MPs in Parliament whose role is to ensure re-election, and currently we hear of debates to have their gratuities increased to prevent them from being ‘destitute’ once they are out of parliament. Indeed, you will know them by their deeds. They say you cannot tell that a road is crooked until you see a straight one besides it. And yes, now we know them.

Having been raised by a taxi driver myself, I fully appreciate the initiative to empower youths of Matero. Many of our youths, no matter how well trained in driving they may be, cannot dream of owning a car in their lifetime. Many of our families rely on the one member of the family that may have a job, a katemba or uses some skill acquired. Driving is one such skill that is when acquired, and easily so, has continued to feed, school and take care of many households. An opportunity therefore to empower these drivers with a car once they have worked hard a while, is indeed what many would have hoped came many years ago.

What Hon. Miles has showed all those in parliament, especially those advocating for a pay rise, is that even with the little you get from Parliament, you can do one good thing for your constituency. As they say: A little goes a long, long way, many miles actually!

I must admit, I had never imagined that in our house of parliament one would be this innovative and use his experience and standing in society to better the lives of the people in his constituency. We cannot continue to talk about potential as a country, we must put this potential to work, and leaders are expected to lead the way especially in their constituencies. What Hon. Miles Sampa has done is to show us all, that what Zambia wants, what we want, a dynamic economy that generates the wealth to deliver rising living standards and better public services for all our people is feasible with simple yet effective ideas such as MetroCab.

The idea of MetroCab has the potential to enhance self confidence in the youths, especially the youths of Matero that we have a brighter and better future ahead of us, that with many like minds of selfless leaders, a strong, self-confident and outward-looking country, a country we can be proud of is feasible. I strongly believe that in constituencies, MPs should be proper public servants. MPs, whatever their party, should work for their constituents, and in an innovative way, MetroCabs in Matero is such clear example of MP’s roles in constituency development and community partnerships. I hope the other MPs follow the steps taken by the Matero lawmaker and empower their constituencies. Remember, Just a Little Goes a Long Way! Well done Miles, this is indeed a Milestone!