Thursday, March 28, 2024

Mazabuka Chieftains Need to Be Commended

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Chief Mwanachingwala makes his way among the kapasos or Aid' de camps at his palace in Mazabukua

by Henry Kyambalesa

I am pleased to learn of the constructive views of traditional leaders from Mazabuka who, I understand, were supposed to meet President Rupiah Banda at State House on March 23, 2010—that is, chieftainess Mwenda and Chiefs Hanjalika, Mwanachingwala and Naluama.

Among other things, three of the traditional leaders are quoted in The Post newspaper as having said that they would not allow themselves to be used as ladders by politicians seeking to ascend to higher offices as they were expected to be neutral, and that the role of traditional leaders is to advise and interact with all politicians both from the ruling political party and opposition political parties on development-related issues.

These traditional leaders need to be commended for taking this posture. We should castigate traditional leaders who have stated publicly that their role in matters of politics is to support the government of the day. After all, traditional leaders are, ideally, supposed to be impartial leaders of all the people in their chiefdoms regardless of their political affiliations.

There is, therefore, a need for traditional leaders to be completely independent from political actors if they are to serve their subjects as impartial leaders, particularly in matters relating to politics. In this endeavor, President Rupiah Banda should remove the public assistance to traditional leaders from his office and place it under the aegis of the Parliamentary Committee on Local Governance, Housing and Chiefs’ Affairs.

This will forestall any suspicions that chiefs’ subsidies, electrification of chiefs’ palaces, the purchasing of motor vehicles for chiefs, and any other matters relating to the welfare of chiefs are designed to woo their support during elections.

I trust that our paramount chiefs and all the honor­able chief­tains and village heads will contin­ue to serve the nation well in cultural and tradition­al matters, and as unifying authorities in their respective areas of jurisdic­tion.

10 COMMENTS

  1. For interest sake, must bribe does the chiefs get in the election year. Let’s say President Banda, Micheal, Hakainde and so on. If any one knows how much it goes to can give this important estimate coz it means something to the verbal diarrhoea some chiefs spills!

  2. Mr Kyambalesa – please note: the role and functions of parliamentary select committees is not to provide financial or material assistance. Thier role is limited to over-sight functions in accordance with our constitution, which promotes the “separation of powers”.

  3. Mr Kyambalesa – please note: the role and functions of parliamentary select committees is not to provide financial or material assistance. Thier role is limited to over-sight functions in accordance with our constitution, which promotes the “separation of powers”.

  4. At least Mr Kyambalesa has learnt to make sober comments. Unlike others, he recognises that there is an elected president in office and calls him so, keep it up. But he does not tell us what the chiefs were to meet the President for. Is there anything wrong with meeting the president if the chiefs have issues to discuss with him? My recollection is that President Banda has said that he is open for dialogue. So what is the Post talking about this time? I am sure whatever it is that they wrote is the usual divisive n.o.n.s.e.n.s.e……

  5. Ba Post it is a long time since you wrote anything negative about Sata, just before 2006 elections I think. For a change ba Post, please tell us what you know about ba Sata instead of that s.i.l.l.y. opinion that I heard you wasted precious paper on Kaingu. We know that Sata is evil, and now if President Banda is a bad man tell us who you think is the better of the two evils.

  6. I would think that the House of Chiefs should be the government arm through which all matters relating toi these traditional ‘titular’ heads could be dealt with. I would also suggest that we include eminent Zambians in thei particular fields to be appointed to the House of Chiefs so that they can scrutinise government activities. We have many very wise Zambians whose advice and counsel could benefit the country just languishing in the streets.

  7. A good recommendation to the President would be for him to remove public assistance to chiefs from his office and place it under the auspices of the Ministry of Local Government and Housing, which would deal directly with the House of Chiefs in matters relating to the various forms of assistance extended to chiefs. Good article, though. Kyambalesa seems to be quite resourceful on matters pertaining to the reform of government institutions. This is a good thing because we need to continually examine the relevance and appropriateness of the existing structure and organs of our government.

  8. :d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/:d/

    bravo! wise chiefs, ati aba mano bafumine ku eas hmm, awe niku south.

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