Thursday, March 28, 2024

President Lungu says he will no longer attend traditional ceremonies

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President Lungu talks to Chieftainess Mukamambo Nkomesha in misolo village
President Lungu talks to Chieftainess Mukamambo Nkomesha in misolo village

President Edgar Lungu says he will no longer attend traditional ceremonies as they are dividing the country.

ZANIS reports that President Lungu explained that some tribal groupings get offended when he fails to attend their ceremonies after being invited.

The Head of State cited the Kalumba traditional ceremony of the Chewa speaking people as one such ceremony that has raised dust after he failed to attend this year’s ceremony.

President Lungu revealed that some people are accusing him of siding with the Ngoni speaking people after having graced this year’s Ncwala traditional ceremony.

The President disclosed that his failure to attend the 2017 Kalumba ceremony has caused so much annoyance with some people threatening not vote for the PF.

President Lungu said the divisions being caused by traditional ceremonies are worrying especially that traditional ceremonies are supposed to unite all tribal groupings.

“I have information that my failure to attend Kalumba ceremony in eastern province has caused so much annoyance among some people,” he said.

President Lungu said this when responding to senior Chieftainess Nkomenshya Mukamambo II who personally invited him to grace this year’s Chakwela Makumbi traditional ceremony of the Soli speaking people.

The President assured the traditional leader that he will only attend traditional ceremonies once the ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs resolves the problems.

President Lungu further disclosed that he has since informed cabinet of his decision not to attend traditional ceremonies.

Earlier, chieftains Nkomenshya told President Lungu that she will be disappointed if he sent a representative to grace the Chakwela Makumbi ceremony.

The royal highness had appealed to President Lungu to adjust his programme so that he creates time to attend the ceremony.

103 COMMENTS

  1. just because he was not invited in southern province. anyway, I was waiting for next year kuomboka, but he has made it easy for the litunga.

    • Very childish reaction. What a misleader !!!

      It is YOOOUUU Vodiga Rungu who is dividing the country and abused traditional ceremonies to clock political mileage.

      A good leader would have taken full responsibility, apologised and said all political parties can attend any traditional ceremony they so choose.

    • Again, ECL is addressing topics that are not really important, who cares that he will stop attending traditional ceremonies.
      Great appreciation would have been if he said he will reduce on his international travels, I guess that would have had an impact and many people would have appreciated i. Or if he would have had addressed the question of corruption instead of him dodging the topic and merely to say he will not be distracted.
      Again where it matters, he keeps quiet but when it comes to the mediocre topic, he is fine to fill the press.

    • This coming from a man who only last week said “I don’t see anything wrong with me travelling to other countries” , he said this despite there being a lot of annoyance from the whole nation regarding his constant travels.

      Instead he chooses to call us cheap for asking him to deal with corruption allegations of his govt.

    • If you had doubts that the head of state is brain dead, here is proof. Governing a country is beyond his depth. This extremely stup!d response from a head of state speaks volumes on his ability to manage affairs of a nation. But then Zambians were warned by none other than himself that he was incompetent, no ideas how to govern. That’s why he finds comfort in travelling to avoid what amounts to work. That’s why Jay Jay calls him a LAZY BUM. An accurate and fitting description.

    • But he finds it ok to attend Swazi traditional ceremonies to watch breasts of small girls, tagging along drug traffickers like Findley at tax-payers expense. What a lazy sack of manure.

    • I GUESS YOU CAN REVISIT YOUR STATEMENT -YOU DON’T MISS YOUR INTERNATIONAL TRIPS YET I KINDA UNDERSTAND YOUR FRUSTRATION.
      YES THERE IS ROOM TO RECONSIDER; THE LINE MINISTRY WILL SURELY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT
      =======================================
      That said, is it a must that you should attend traditional rituals? In as much as it is not mandatory, like you make us believe, that you should embark on international trips at every chance you get. In a way, yes, these tribal rituals will always get you web wired, because they happen nonstop in many areas across the land. But you Mr. President can always delegate. That is why your schedule looks cosmetically tight. Please, if the line ministry attends a function of both international and national nature, you have been represented. You are…

    • … there the fact that they read your SPEECH. Don’t mind the TONGA CHIEFS’ recent manner of doing things. If a chief wants you to attend, attend. If they don’t want, Don’t, period.

    • Wow traditional ceremonies will be very safe for the rest of us to attend, no more treason, pettiness am sure tourists well love this.

    • So who’s duty is it to unite the country? The Ngoni/Chewa divisions have been going on for some time now and what was he thinking when he decided to attend the Ngoni ceremony and not the Chewa One? It’s this kind of leadership with no direction that is promoting divisions in the country. If he cant unite chiefs in Eastern province where he hails from then how can he solve problems in other provinces of Zambia? President Lungu doesn’t seem to be in control of the country and it’s affairs like the other presidents we’ve had in the past. Anyway he frankly told us that he had no vision for the country. We should have listened and rejected him. Now we’re stuck with him unfortunately till 2021.

    • AS LONG AS YOU HAVE CHIEFS THERE WILL NEVER BE ONE ZAMBIA.
      CHIEFS HAVE NO PLACE IN A MODERN STATE OF ZAMBIA AND BY DEFINITION THEY ARE DIVISIVE AND, NEED I SAY IT: BACKWARD.
      OUR CHIEFS ARE SELFISH AND ARE ONLY CONCERNED WITH THE BUILDING AND MASSAGING OF THEIR EGOS. LISTEN TO CHIEFS TALKING AND ALL YOU HEAR IS ABOUT THEIR WELFARE AND VERY LITTLE ABOUT THEIR SUBJECTS.
      THE MAIN REASON WESTERN PROVINCE IS SO MUCH UNDERDEVELOPED IS BECAUSE THE LITUNGA HAS SO MUCH POWER WHICH HE EXPLOITS FOR HIS OWN GRATIFICATION AND THAT OF THE “ROYAL ESTABLISHMENT”.
      THE SOLUTION TO THE MENACE IS TO BAN ALL CHIEFS LIKE NYERERE DID AND YOU WILL EVEN GET RID OF TRIBAL/ REGIONANISTIC POLICAL PARTIES.

    • PARLIAMENT SHOULD CONSIDER CUTTING HIS PAY, LEADERSHIP IS PROVING TO BE A BIG CHALLENGE FOR HIM. AFTER ALL HE IS PROVING TO BE A WASTE OF SPACE AND TIME TO TAX PAYERS.

    • Who cares? After all these ceremonies are not for political purposes they have been graced by the main actors and so shall it be for many more years to come with or without the president at any given time! Fyonse fye paka ukumonekelako ati ba part nangu government officer epwali! For what good reasons!

    • Just ban the useless ceremonies … for once I applaud my Dad for refusing to take up the chieftainship when his turn came around 2 decades ago.

      These are primitive functions that add no value to national development and the very fact that some aspects of them have to be kept primitive irks me the most.

      These are modern times and we need to take stock of what really adds value to culture and eliminate those things that don’t.

      Moreover, these functions are now being used as campaign platforms instead of being used to unite the nation.

      I said ban them now through and through; the smart people of the Zambian Enterprise deserve better

    • Ba Pushi
      Traditional ceremonies are supposed to unite you havnt you heared the great leader kikikiki
      Sometimes you would think he has been misquoted.By the way does this only apply to Zambian traditional ceremonies?What about the Reed Dance?

    • AS LONG AS YOU HAVE CHIEFS IN OUR NATION THERE WILL NEVER BE ONE ZAMBIA.
      CHIEFS HAVE NO PLACE IN A MODERN STATE OF ZAMBIA AND BY DEFINITION THEY ARE DIVISIVE AND, NEED I SAY IT: BACKWARD.
      OUR CHIEFS ARE SELFISH AND ARE ONLY CONCERNED WITH THE BUILDING AND MASSAGING OF THEIR EGOS. LISTEN TO CHIEFS TALKING AND ALL YOU HEAR IS ABOUT THEIR WELFARE AND VERY LITTLE ABOUT THEIR SUBJECTS.
      THE MAIN REASON WESTERN PROVINCE IS SO MUCH UNDERDEVELOPED IS BECAUSE THE LITUNGA HAS SO MUCH POWER WHICH HE EXPLOITS FOR HIS OWN GRATIFICATION AND THAT OF THE “ROYAL ESTABLISHMENT”.
      THE SOLUTION TO THE MENACE IS TO BAN ALL CHIEFS LIKE NYERERE DID AND YOU WILL EVEN GET RID OF TRIBAL/ REGIONANISTIC POLICAL PARTIES.

    • @ TLC GX-R V8 You are right!
      Unfortunately the Number One uneducated person in Zambia seems to Lungu himself There’s a lot he fails to understand. Maybe he even cheated and bribed on his exams to become a “Lawyer” like he did with the election!

      Anyway we know he failed to understand the Constitution because he failed to hand over power to the Speaker. You are very right! Uneducated people are a big problem. A BIG problem for Zambia.

  2. Disaster for the chiefs for embracing HH.

    You don’t mock the most important person in the whole county’s

    We support presdeint Lungu on this on behalf of all Zambian.

    Press GREEN for presdeint Lungu.

    UPND can go where the sun don’t shine.

    I hold a PhD

    Thanks

    BB2024,2016

    • PHD ? ‘Where the sun don’t .’ The correct English is doesn’t or does not and not ‘don’t .’ The nomad should stop moving about aimlessly and save some money for the school that we saw without a toilet full stop .

    • Spot on, Mushota!!! Instead of being a uniting factor, these ceremonies are being used as political bargaining tools. It has become totally political. Like the southern chiefs, they want to hold the presidency at ransom. Chiefs would now have to engage government through their house. If they choose to take sides and put opposition figures in front of them, they suffer the consequence of ignoring government. Good move, Mr. President.

    • The PHD? This iddiyot must tell us where there are “county’s” in Zambia ?????

      Sorry to inform you royal highass PHD that they do not exist here!

  3. Damn I don’t like his statement.I thought I was reading “i’ll no longer attend foreign inauguration ceremonies”

  4. Yes. let us see if u5 will will be master of ceremony in all provinces at TRADITIONAL CEREMONIES . he has set exmple.

    If you now believe he is TRUELY u5 press RED

  5. You see now what the Under5 monkey from UPND has caused. In his lack of wisdom Kaponya (HH) thinks he’s solidifying his stay at the helm of UPND by ‘officiating’ at traditional ceremonies.
    But in his wisdom, our President ECL has taken the country’s interests first. Cursed is the day (HH) was appointed by Sejane and Mutinta to head UPND

    • Mr Kudos; the president will not attend traditional ceremonies because he feels they are too low class for him. Now that he has tasted air travel and luxurious hotels he feels he cannot sit under a thatched roof. Period.

  6. let him and ck attend attend TRADITIONal ceremonies.

    u5 will never rule Zambia.

    let him stand as mp in lsk central or counselor in bauleni. He will lose

    he can only win in sp.

    if you believe u5 will never rule Zambia press

    RED

  7. GOOD MOVE WISE CHAGWA LUNGU… WHEN I BECOME HEAD OF STATE I WILL ABOLISH THIS CHIEF NONSENSE.. WHAT DO I BENEFIT FROM BEING CHIEF MWANACHINGWALA’S SUBJECT.. THESE CHARACTERS WILL ONE DAY SET THIS COUNTRY ON FIRE..

    • And what do you benefit from been a pf cader? We buy unga at same price, goodness me i manage to buy highly priced fuel, you strap when going to the airport to welcome your bubbly humble cheeks. Leave my mwanachingwala alone you full.

    • African Rulership which we have brought down to the level of “chief” so as to make the colonial masters more comfortable has been around since time immemorial, in fact thousands of years.. why abolish a system that has served us well over millennia now for the sake of the current divisive form of governance and leadership which we have inherited via colonialism..

      Travel any corner of the Earth Royal Rulership is the best system ie Europe, America, Japan etc etc.. all these successful civilisations have a form of Royalty holding the fabric of society together.

      You my country man Hibalwa is talking a whole pile of garbage..

  8. ecl ali pa easy chabe

    no hot air balloon like nevers mumba.gbm.ck.u5

    if you believe upend under tribal u5 will never rule Zambia press RED.

    If you believe u5 is slowly seperating southern province from rest of the country press GREEN

  9. So this man thinks by not attending traditional ceremonies he is going to unite the people! This is now childish to say the least. The reason behind is not what he is saying but because the traditional chiefs of south province never invited him to their ceremony. This man has very wrong advisors or may he doesn’t even consult them, knowing their caliber.

    • …hhmmm…the wrong advisors who engineered his ascent to power twice at the expense of a veteran loser…kwekwekwekwekwe…I would employ such advisors anyday; because they would make me president…kwekwekwekwekwe….

    • Zambian Citizen

      “who engineered”

      Nice choice of words there. You mean WHO stole HH’s votes for him and dug the grave for these same votes in Kalulushi? Please Zambian citizen, accept that your idol lungu is a very dull chap, unfit for the job of president, this much is extremely evident even to the dumbest of them all. Admit it.

  10. Let him also get rid of those people who throng the airport whenever he is is traveling, its sheer waste of resources. Maybe he could limit that to times when he is welcoming foreign Presidents.

    But surely, no need to have Inonge at the airport when he is traveling to Ndola….

  11. Much appreciated your Excellency. However, the cost of attending these ceremonies should have been your primary motive for you taking this decision. At a time when Districts and Provinces are receiving little or no funding for service delivery, steps should be taken to reduce expenditure that does not provide immediate economic benefit.

  12. if you believe upend is a tribal party DONT PRESS anything

    If you believe u5 is wasting upend time press GREEN

    if you believe u5 looted Zambian resources through PRIVATISATION press RED

    • You have left me with no choice but to press on your mother, when night falls spend your night at njimbu’s ramshackle. I got work to do tonight.

  13. He Has Already Said That, “some People Have Threatened Not To Vote For Pf.”
    So Its Loud And Clear That The Man Is Scared Of Losing Votes. But Again Not Attending Traditional Ceremonies Is A Very Wrong Way Of Gaining The Votes. And This Man Must Accept The Responsibility That He Is The One Dividing The Country By Politicising The Ceremonies.

    • He knows he is going to use the method used in the last election- RIG. Zambians are docile. They will only watch and clap for ‘humble’ leader!

  14. Aini, life should come to a standstill because ALungu has stopped going to traditional ceremonies. These Jokes Yaba

  15. Good move Mr. President. These ceremonies are just a waste of time and money. After all, the only unifying event is football at international level.

  16. Wise decision my president because you should not be on the same scale with people who are striving to gain political mileage! Unlike them, you have already reached the summit. Let the sucklings, the Under 5 continue with their cheap politicking.

  17. People won’t miss the nosy noisy pf caders, finally traditional ceremonies will return to normalcy once more, may God be praised. Phweeeeeeeh! What a sigh of relief.

  18. Wise president. Next go further and abolish these chiefdoms like Tanzania did. They are jus a drain on the country. We cannot continue to operate under 2 systems. All drawing resources from our coffers.

    • Traditional ceremonies have now become a commercial undertaking and divisive. Let the opposition use them as campaign venues and let’s see where it takes them.

  19. Good move I hope your useless cadres also stop they have been a pain in the ass we are tired as citizens everything has been politicized save us as tax payers

  20. How I wish that some countries like Somalia complain and protest that our great leader Chagwa has ignored them even after inviting him to grace their national day so that he does away with all international tours.

  21. Fault Finder – Advise your bululu to stop wasting our resources in Swazi traditional ceremonies. There is nothing or very little resources spent by attending local traditional ceremonies. The problem of him not attending ceremonies is emanating from Eastern Province where he hails from. There are other traditional ceremonies he has never attended and those people are not complaining. Others have even stopped inviting him and are not complaining of his absence. Let him just sort out issues with his bululus in Eastern Province.
    The issue of traditional ceremonies has been there long before Edgar was born and have been there with past presidents. Why should there be a problem today because Edgar is a president.

  22. He is an international tourist and so expensive for Zambian traditional ceremonies. Try Swaziland..lol
    What a leader!

  23. Every province has a DC or some Minister… in fact we have Minister of Chiefs.. nanga what’s their job ?? Why can’t they attend on behalf of His Excellency Ba Kateka?

    Makes it cheaper.. then every now and again Ba Kateka can attend one or two without draining the already exhausted public purse as it is ?

  24. LT please the traditional ceremony for the Chewas is KULAMBA not the lightening you have put in the article.

    • He doesn’t have any authority to ban any traditional ceremony, not even a King or as they are called in colonial terms “chief” is allowed to ban a single ceremony which is in place.

  25. S LONG AS YOU HAVE CHIEFS IN OUR NATION THERE WILL NEVER BE ONE ZAMBIA.
    CHIEFS HAVE NO PLACE IN A MODERN STATE OF ZAMBIA AND BY DEFINITION THEY ARE DIVISIVE AND, NEED I SAY IT: BACKWARD.
    OUR CHIEFS ARE SELFISH AND ARE ONLY CONCERNED WITH THE BUILDING AND MASSAGING OF THEIR EGOS. LISTEN TO CHIEFS TALKING AND ALL YOU HEAR IS ABOUT THEIR WELFARE AND VERY LITTLE ABOUT THEIR SUBJECTS.
    THE MAIN REASON WESTERN PROVINCE IS SO MUCH UNDERDEVELOPED IS BECAUSE THE LITUNGA HAS SO MUCH POWER WHICH HE EXPLOITS FOR HIS OWN GRATIFICATION AND THAT OF THE “ROYAL ESTABLISHMENT”.
    THE SOLUTION TO THE MENACE IS TO BAN ALL CHIEFS LIKE NYERERE DID AND YOU WILL EVEN GET RID OF TRIBAL/ REGIONANISTIC POLITICAL PARTIES.

  26. AS LONG AS YOU HAVE CHIEFS IN OUR NATION THERE WILL NEVER BE ONE ZAMBIA.
    CHIEFS HAVE NO PLACE IN A MODERN STATE OF ZAMBIA AND BY DEFINITION THEY ARE DIVISIVE AND, NEED I SAY IT: BACKWARD.
    OUR CHIEFS ARE SELFISH AND ARE ONLY CONCERNED WITH THE BUILDING AND MASSAGING OF THEIR EGOS. LISTEN TO CHIEFS TALKING AND ALL YOU HEAR IS ABOUT THEIR WELFARE AND VERY LITTLE ABOUT THEIR SUBJECTS.
    THE MAIN REASON WESTERN PROVINCE IS SO MUCH UNDERDEVELOPED IS BECAUSE THE LITUNGA HAS SO MUCH POWER WHICH HE EXPLOITS FOR HIS OWN GRATIFICATION AND THAT OF THE “ROYAL ESTABLISHMENT”.
    THE SOLUTION TO THE MENACE IS TO BAN ALL CHIEFS LIKE NYERERE DID AND YOU WILL EVEN GET RID OF TRIBAL/ REGIONANISTIC POLICAL PARTIES.

  27. HAS PRESIDENT LUNGU AND HIS ADVISERS THOUGHT ABOUT THIS DECISION CAREFULLY OR IS IT ANOTHER RUSHY ORATORY? IS THE REED CEREMONY EXCLUSIVE TO THIS OR WILL IT BE AN EXCEPTION. IF HE WILL ATTEND FOREIGN TRADITION CEREMONIES AND NOT THOSE IN HIS OWN COUNTRY AS PRESIDENT, WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS? ECL IS AN INEPT LEADER WHO SHOULD EITHER FIRE HIS ADVISERS, RESIGN OR BOTH.

    • This is one of the worst decisions ever made by a Head of State in Zambia. Does this mean the President Lungu will not even go to any chiefdom to campaign or launch projects? I had some respect for Lungu when he went to Southern Province and Dundumwezi after all that happened before even told the people in Dundumwezi that he had listened to them during 2016 elections and that he would work with them. That was leadership. Running away from traditional ceremonies is lack of leadership. What it means now is that each time a section of people demonstrate against PF or his leadership he will avoid going there? Lungu you have failed.

  28. Thank you! Make no difference but one thing for sure you will save tax payers money! It was just a waste of time. Get back to work.

  29. “President Lungu said the divisions being caused by traditional ceremonies are worrying”.

    What? Traditional ceremonies are CAUSING divisions??? How can centuries-old traditional ceremonies all of a sudden become divisive? What nonsense is this? This is deeply insulting to our centuries-old traditional heritage. Lungu is insulting people’s intelligence by trying to deflect attention from the real causer of this divisiveness.

    The real causer is none other than Edgar C. Lungu himself. Period.

    • And how come Lungu is able to find time to talk about Traditional ceremonies, but too ‘busy’ to inform the nation how he acquired more than 21 million Kwacha (rebased) in twelve months of being Republican President.?

  30. Well spoken Mr president, it’s good that you have eyes of an eagle and able to Analyze issues at hand, well put it that ministry of chiefs and …… should sit down and resolve matters affecting them(chiefs) because the coming in of merger salaries giving to traditional rulers are (chiefs)getting confused to the point of missing the their duties and obligations, They need more exercise for chiefs to differentiate democratic rules and theirs. Today we have chief Mukuni who is coming publicly and states that in southern province only hh will be invited to grace their ceremonial events , without taking a breath of himself and ask for tomorrow to the future generations.Even in his (mukuni)absence kingship will go on and on , for that to flourish well it’s just need peaceful Zambia but he…

  31. This is an outrageous and emotional response to the Southern Chief’s public endorsement of HH as head of State of Southern Province. ECL must be seen to foster national unity and should attend such events whenever he can. You could almost stagger the his attendance year on year. Each tribe must be acknowledged by such attendance. The Southern Chiefs can remain with HH until the acknowledge the presidency

  32. Not a good move Mr President, please reconsider. You’re handing over the opportunity to be seen and interact with the common man, real voters, to the opposition. HH must be popping champagne for scoring this one.

  33. In some provinces they still believe the loser is the president and they invite him there to grace the occasion! I guess there are a lot of illiterates there!

  34. Open letter to president Lungu on traditional ceremonies. Let your hiatus from these ceremonies not take too long. These ceremonies for better or worse are here to stay. The blame is all on Kaunda who did not stop these ceremonies when the country was a one party state. It is difficult now. Infact the office of Chiefs should have been abolished immediately elective leadership started in Zambia. No need for chiefs. They are parasites. How did you manage to miss Kulamba when it represents three countries, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia? Bad advice Mr. president. For the future only attend, Umutomboko, Kusefa pa N’gwena, Kuomboka, Mcwala, Kulamba and Lwiindi. The rest send DCs or Ministers or HH.

  35. Praise be to God !! At least now he will have time to answer some of the questions Zambians are asking and he has no excuse. In civilised countries, citizens can put pressure on the ruling president to step down if they are not happy with his style. Why accept mediocre leadership ? These traditional ceremonies are there to show off our culture and Lungu doesn’t have to attend them if he feels unwelcome…why doesn’t he delegate? Delegation is a sign of effective leadership, time management and collaborative working. Britain has such ceremonies and they are one way of bringing people together and it brings in capital.

  36. This ‘president’ has a serious combination occupying his brains, dumbness and drunkenness. He is trying everything to divert the peoples’ attention attention from his stinking corruption and crookedness but that won’t work instead he is infuriating all right-thinking Zambians.
    He must be aware that right now he is just as good as criminal on the run and when time comes he will be thrown into jail and rot there.

  37. His Excellency’s presence is required in our Traditional affairs. Especially since these are also Tourist attractions bringing much needed income to the country. His attendance elevates the affairs.

    However, Senior Party Members must attend in his absence. It’s unreasonable for people to expect his diary to cover all of the ceremonies. There are major ones he must attend.

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