Thursday, March 28, 2024

First Lady urges membership diversity in traditional ceremony committees

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First Lady Thadiwe Banda (L)
First Lady Thandiwe Banda (L)

First Lady Thandiwe Banda has called upon traditional ceremonies committees to expands their membership by having members who do not reside or hail from one Province.

Mrs. Banda observed that if the Committee succeeds in having members who hail from other provinces, the Committee would also have succeeded in making the ceremony more popular

Mrs. Banda made the call in Lusaka last evening at the fund raising dinner dance for the Kuomboka-Kufuluhela Lusaka Committee. This was in a speech read on her behalf by wife of the Vice President George Kunda, Irene.

She said the Kuomboka-Kufuluhela Lusaka Committee should consider having members who do not come or hail from Western Province because a number of non-Lozis have increasingly taken pride in wearing the Msisi, a traditional attire for the Lozi speaking people even during other national events.

The First Lady said having a balanced membership is vital to accerating national development thereby marketing Zambia’s rich cultural gheritage home and abroad.

Mrs. Banda said this would also assist in uniting the country through the popularization of the common heritages irrespective of the origin of the traditional attire as well as other cultural deeds; cultural music and expressions.

Meanwhile, the First Lady also called upon Zambians from other regions to become members of the Kuomboka-Kufuluhela Lusaka Committee.

Mrs. Banda added that this would assist the ceremony acclaim its elevated status not only at its organizational level.

And Kuomboka-Kufuluhela Lusaka Committee Chairperson Oliver Saasa urged government and other stakeholders to continue rendering support to the Kuomboka ceremony.

Professor Saasa said this year’s Kuomboka would be different from last year’s in that the Organizing Committee is doing everything possible to make it more colourful.

The Kuomboka traditional Ceremony is an annual event held in April by the Lozi people of Western Province. It symbolizes coming out the waters by the Lozi Chief Litunga.

ZANIS

14 COMMENTS

  1. Good Afternoon

    The First Lady seems to be an expert in giving advice on social, traditional and cultural issues. The role fits her well as long as she does’nt think of stepping into politics too.

  2. Listen in official speeches, I used to be involved in similar orgainsations. What happens is that when you invite a VIP to be a guest of honour, the inviting Organization is asked to write the speech for the Guest of Honour, its only in Zambia that I have seen this type of protocol. In essence what Thandiwe Granddaughter Banda is reported to have said was actually said by the Kuomboka Kufuluhela committee!

  3. I am a little disappointed with this Presidency. I was of the impression that madam Banda would be a forward thinker since she looks fairly young. This issue of traditional ceremonies should be left to people like Mr Rupiah Banda generation. Traditional ceremonies will not help alleviate the poverty level in our country. We are done with those ugly ceremonies that do not contribute to the development of our country but merely takes us back to ancient days.

    Lets talk about technological advancement Mrs Banda. We are in an information age, providing internet in rural communities is what we expect a lady like madam Banda to be talking about. This Presidency is taking us back to the stone age. I did not expect a graduate to be preoccupied by traditional ceremonies, Mr Banda why…..?

  4. Nonsense, you mean to include people in the organizing committee on the basis of the attire? Does she know that all these ceremonies come with other tribal, cultural and traditional requirements to participate and uphold the cultures of these tribes? This is like asking a Bemba to serve as an Nduna for the Lozi King. She is dreaming. If this is the new form of One Zambia, One Nation, then she should start with her hubby not to push and shovel Eastern Province in everyone’s throat. It should start from State House. How many other tribes are serving as advisers at State House? The last person was Aka, who now finds himself even further from State House, but in Tanzania. To have a Tonga organizing Umutomboko, never. She is dreaming.

  5. #7 – Hia! Hia! well said. Next she will be asking a Tonga to be Chief Mpezeni… or she will ask her husband’s brothers to paddle the Nalikwanda… To start with, they have bastardised the musisi attire and made it look all comical. the lozi culture is not based on wearing a musisi or siziba. there’s more to it than that. stipulating it to thandie would be a waste of time as she is just a mung`ete anyway!!

  6. #6 – You are totally brainwashed!! The people who created that same so called ‘information age’ have their own traditions which they value, howbeit not as exciting. even in America where your ka flag hails from, they have traditions which they value such as Thanksgiving Day, Powwow and stupid ones like Tie a Ribbon. In the UK they have Changing of the Guards, Ceremony of the Keys and Beefeeter, Trooping of the Colour and stupid ones like Swan Upping. Even Bob Marley was clever to know that ‘in this great future you can’t forget your past’. You wouldn’t be were you are today if it weren’t for your traditions… ID#@T !!

  7. Is wearing a wig ( whether human hair or mane from a dead horse) traditional in Zambia? Zambian beauty is in the natural look. No fake hair do or bleached skin like the other former first lady, no body piercing. Just plane beautiful…..that is what we call zambian.

  8. Guys tone down. If something (musisi of siziba) is good, buy into it. Zambian women wear bubus from west africa and your quiet about. African culture also entails having respect for elders or those in authority. Lozi culture is cool, so are the other cultures in Z.

  9. Mukwae #9 right on. Blogger #6 is indeed brainwashed and very shallow. Actually these ceremonies also provide business opportunities if well managed. Anyway thats what happens when there is to much negativity in any society

  10. If the average blog context is a standard for Zambian analytical ability, God help us all. The fact of the matter is she has a point. And I am sure that the Committee in question agrees with her sentiments as can be deciphered here. The question is to explain that a committee, is not a traditional ceremony. An organising committee is not a ceremony. During the actual ceremony, then you would want to ensure that the traditional content of the ceremony is not diluted. I do not see why Oliver Saasa should not invite Zambezi Airlines / Proflight in the comiittee for instance, and they would provide air travel for participants to and for at a discount for the ceremony. The committee can involve Chief Mukuni, and he would bring his Lions for display at the occassion. And so on….

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