Chiphaliwali says the move demonstrated that the district is sidelined in many activities while traditional authority Mlauli is of the view that a lot need to be done for the district.

Councilor Joseph Chiphaliwali told Zodiak that people of Neno wanted the meetings to be held in the district as is being the tradition across the country.

"We wanted the vice president to physically visit our district and appreciate the developments and challenges we are facing and this move to hold them in Mwanza has told us that Neno is far from development and still sidelined", said Chiphaliwali.

The reforms meeting were supposed to take place this week on Monday but were rescheduled to Thursday in Mwanza district as the Neno road is wearing a bad face.

Traditional authority Mlauli is challenging government to prioritize Neno in its development agenda saying the reforms being championed by the vice president could be achievable through good road networks.

" Neno deserves better infrastructure just like this Mwanza hotel where we are in. The vice president next time should wear a brave heart and travel to Neno as we have traveled here to Mwanza so that he knows what we go through daily," said the visibly unhappy T/A.

The vice president has since assured the people of Neno that all follow up reform meetings shall be taking place right in the district so that he appreciates for himself the challenges people are facing.

Neno district has had no tarmac road since its declaration as a district in 2002 by the then state president Dr. Bakili Muluzi.