By Henry Kyambalesa
While the debate relating to “tribe” or “tribalism” is a petty and irrelevant campaign issue in this year’s general elections, and in any future elections as a matter of fact, I have found it necessary to comment on the assertion by Patriotic Front (PF) Media Director, Sunday Chanda, that the United Party for National Development (UPND) was founded on what he has referred to as a “tribal cradle.”
One of the recurring requirements for the establishment of a political party in Zambia’s Republican constitutions has been that such an entity must “have a national character,” and that it should not “be founded on a religious, linguistic, racial, ethnic, tribal, gender, sectoral, or provincial basis, or engage in propaganda based on any of these factors.”
So, all registered political parties in Zambia today must have met this litmus test and, therefore, none can be said to be a “tribal” political party. Our brother Sunday Chanda should, therefore, refrain from making baseless assertions that are likely to promote tribalism and/or incite ethnic-related violence in our beloved country.
One of the other disturbing issues in Sunday Chanda’s Press Release is his endorsement of the following mantra by the late Samora Machel, former Mozambican President: “For the nation to survive, tribe must die.”
Is he suggesting that the abolition of tribes or ethnic groupings in Zambia is one of the ultimate goals of the PF party?
Samora Machel was a staunch believer in the utopian ideals of socialism and communism advocated by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in the Communist Manifesto and the other literary pieces of work they singularly or jointly authored. One of such ideals includes their advocacy for the alteration of the perceptions and psyches (or psychological make-ups) of members of society “on a mass scale” through state-mandated indoctrination of citizens.
Another of the many ideals advocated by Marx and Engels was the abolition of countries and nationality, which they declared in the following words: “[Communists] … are … reproached with desiring to abolish countries and nationality [because the] … workers have no country.” And “National divisions and antagonisms between peoples are daily more and more vanishing … [and the] supremacy of the proletariat will cause them to vanish still faster.”
Mr. Machel must have attempted to reveal his commitment to the realization of this particular ideal when he said, “For the nation to survive, tribe must die,” without even realizing that Marx and Engels actually desired to abolish “the nation” or “the country” that he would have wished to preserve if it were possible to abolish tribes in his country.
Clearly, he extended the advocacy for abolishing countries and nationality to include the “abolition of tribe,” which Marx and Engels did not include because there are, and were, no “tribes” in Western Europe.
If the abolition of tribes in Zambia is not one of PF’s goals, PF officials need to craft a Press Release and disseminate it through news outlets disassociating the party from the toxic opinion of their political party’s Media Director on this matter.
Our country needs a national government that is destined to earnestly spearhead the creation of a socioeconomic environment in which ethnic, cultural, racial, and religious diversities are appreciated, tolerated and celebrated, and a government that cherishes and promotes the cultures, traditions and traditional ceremonies of its 73 tribes—tribes that, together, make up what is essentially “the Zambian family.”
In conclusion, the fact that the ruling political party’s Media Director can spend time and effort writing on issues that will not improve the livelihoods of the common people is enough proof that the party is not concerned about the bread-and-butter problems facing the people who granted it the mandate to form government 10 years ago.
What more proof do Zambians need to realize that the PF government is actually not interested in addressing the socioeconomic problems and crises facing our country—problems and crises which include high levels of poverty and inequality, declining gross domestic product (GDP), unsustainable levels of externally secured debts, and worsening corruption ranking by Transparency International?
Besides, there is a critical shortage of decent public housing in our country; a great number of our fellow citizens do not have access to electricity and clean water; education and training are still not adequately catered for; crime and unemployment are still rampant and pervasive; and public infrastructure and services are still deficient, and are mainly dependent on donor-funding.
Moreover, civil servants are still not adequately compensated for their services, and a lot of civil service retirees cannot get their hard-earned benefits on time; and the healthcare system cannot meet the basic needs of the majority of citizens mainly due to inadequate medicines, healthcare facilities and healthcare personnel.
In addition to such evident incompetence, we currently have government officials who seem to treat non-governmental organizations and opposition political parties and their members as enemies rather than essential members of a pluralistic society—officials like Sunday Chanda who cannot devote their time and efforts to suggesting viable and practical solutions to the real issues and problems facing the country and its people, including hunger, malnutrition, poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, disease, widespread unemployment, crime, corruption, unsustainable levels of external debt, moral decay, and a catalogue of other socioeconomic problems and crises.
Whither our beloved country?
This learned I’d.iot again, He will only b happy in 2031 when his tonga god hh will be president. Plz go and shave that dirty beard you mushala’s illegitemate son
Lungus legacy will be the most corrupt, tribal divisions , cader violence promoting president ever……
Lungu the humble one knows what his PF and CK are doing in regard to tribal attacks, dont be duped. He gets OP briefs.
Tapali efyo ulelanda iwe Kambia Fimofimo. Under 5 surrogate!
WELL SAID STATEMENT AND ALSO THAT INDEED THE PF HAS BEEN THE MOST UNLESS LEADERSHIP
SINCE 1964 , BUT ITS WELL IN THE LORD
PF has no solutions to our current problems. They are using Tribalism to divert our attention from real issues People are facing daily. The Cost of Living is just too high compared to incomes. Life has become unbearable and unaffordable. People have no money to pay rent,buy food,medicines and pay for utilities. They are tired of PF Cadreism, Violence and thuggery. Current Election Campaigns should be based on Bread and Butter issues. Zambians have intermarried and believe in their ‘One Zambia One Nation ” moto coined by our Founding Father KK. Forward with One Zambia One Nation.
Henry Kyambalesa, whatever your reasoning, tribalism has been melting and will continue melting in the pot and soon will not be a factor in an election. Sunday Chanda is not promoting tribalism, he is in fact, though not his intention, assisting UNPD to rely on other strategies [ after losing on August 12, 2021 UNPD can make it in 2026 if they give considerations to what Chanda is saying]. About bread and batter, I ask you, are lecture rooms and offices better than they used to be. Be realistic.
This f00I is an ugly bab00n looking tribal ape. My young daughter is now crying after seeing his picture. Mubi uyu puuliize!! How can you be this ugly outside and inside? I can’t even comment on his article due to the sheer level of ugliness
Kawasaki please tell me what kind of an id1ot you are if not a mushanina ubwali PF id1ot.
Its always helpful to counter someone’s comments with evidence based reasons. Just yapping to please your PF paymasters is not helpful.
PF and Lungu must go.
By wanzelu
@Braniac,
Kapuli kobe!
In the school playground, the guys with the least brains use muscle and bullying to get their way. They cannot debate ideas but will threaten and hurl insults on anyone who is brighter than they are. They always make it personal when challenged about ideas. The PF has more brawn than brains. The few people who are trying to steer the campaign into a discussion of ideas, like Prof Nkandu Luo, get drowned out and lose publicity, but once they go native to PF and become tribal, they get media attention and the cadres clap.
Another member of Banyamulenge spewing his usual incoherent statements.
UPND must be disbanded
KZ, if this guy is ugly, what is Lungu, lungu looks like this guys @ss hole
Kyambalesa, Tribe” or “tribalism” can never be a petty and irrelevant campaign issue unless your past doesn’t serve you right or you’re a staunch supporter of ifyabupuba and the dead camp. We see tribalism perpetrated by the grouping every time and in every public office these guys occupy; more so in the upndead as a grouping.
You can’t f00l us because we saw this vice immediately h² fixed Sakwiba Sikota on a tribal tag. The fabric of this vice is deeply rooted in the camp as we see people they don’t like ditch the party in protest. It shall continue to be big and relevant campaign issue as long as h² gets on the ballot.
{1}. Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their ILLUSIONS and DELUSIONS destroyed.
This author is defending the indefensible. He needs to turn his neck 180 Degrees and resolve his shadow standing behind him. Too many times in life a simple “SORRY” can defuse a lot of clutter that stops us from meeting our objectives in Business, Politics, Family, Society etc. All UPND needed to say especially HH was: – “ Sorry it was wrong to promote – Only A Tonga Can Be Leader of UPND “
{2}. For instance, “ I ” or “Anyone” Zambian can creates a company today and become its CEO, turns it into a Public Listed Company in London or New York – Stock Exchanges. Then put my signature to meet all the Constitutional Laws, Code-of-Conduct by Regulations and Such as:
“You shall recruit your top executive team for the company regardless of their skin colour or religion, and must be qualified to do the job “
If I am racist or tribalist – it will stop me from employing only one group of people or one group of religion. However, the minute “I” as ( The CEO ) or my Top Executives openly say: “ Only a black person can head this company.” It simply means I have shot myself in the leg. Shareholders who are White or Asian will pull out. And other racial groups will stop…
cont..
…. Shareholders who are White or Asian will pull out. And other racial groups will stop buying my product or services.
{3}. Therefore, UPND awaken up from slumber and face reality. The recurring requirement for the establishment of a political party in Zambia’s Republican constitutions that you signed up when forming a political party such as Gender, Racial, Religion etc, must not be used as a safety net for protectionism.
Rather it’s the gospel you have been preaching. HH has failed openly to denounce this Mantra: Only A Tonga Person Can Lead UPND. All that HH needs to do is to say “sorry” this was wrong.
{4}. Great political figures such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, including Barack Obama were men who were quick to say sorry if they made mistakes. HH finds it hard to say sorry because he has despotism, absolutism, autocracy , dictatorship and not forgetting childish tantrums
{5}. The author talks about the critical shortage of decent public housing in our country. Well he is an educated man, why can’t he become part of the Zambian Enterprise Movement and form a company that can start building affordable houses to reduce the shortages.
Commercial Banks in Zambia have so much money waiting for anyone with Good & Tangible Project Ideas. If we private citizens start contributing to development, then things will change faster. Or maybe the author must sit down with HH and learn about starting a business. HH is extremely smart in putting business ideas together. That’s one thing you can never take away from HH.
Kyambalesa, Tri.be” or “trib.alism” can never be a petty and irrelevant campaign issue unless your past doesn’t serve you right or you’re a staunch supporter of ifyabupuba and the de.ad camp. We see trib.alism perpetrated by the grouping every time and in every public office these guys occupy; more so in the upnd.ead as a grouping.
You can’t f00l us because we saw this vice immediately h² fixed Sakwiba Sikota on a tri.bal tag. The fabric of this vice is deeply rooted in the camp as we see people they don’t like ditch the party in protest. It shall continue to be big and relevant campaign issue as long as h² gets on the ballot.
Kyambalesa, “Tri.be” or “trib.ali.sm” can never be a petty and irrelevant campaign issue unless your past doesn’t serve you right or you’re a staunch supporter of ifya.bupuba and the de.ad camp. We see trib.alism perpetrated by the grouping every time and in every public office these guys occupy; more so in the upnd.ead as a grouping.
You can’t f00001 us because we saw this vice immediately h² screwed Sakwiba Sikota on a tri.b. al tag. The fabric of this vice is deeply rooted in the camp as we see people they don’t like ditch the party in protest. It shall continue to be big and relevant campaign issue as long as h² gets on the ballot.
THE SAINT @ 6
You have nailed it correctly. That’s very true. Keeping preaching the truth.
When Prof Luo spoke the truth and wanted to clean up the dirty streets of Lusaka, she became an enemy and Sata removed her from her portfolio because they wanted to please the cadres selling in the streets who made it dirty. PF has bad apples just like all political parties in Zambia.
Henry, I would fail this essay if I was your lecturer in Political science. You have gone off target a little. Where were you when Mr Ackson Sejani set out the criterion for any Zambian to contest the UPND presidency?
Ask Sakwiba Sikota.
Just cast your absentee vote for Hakainde, talking nonsense exposes your limitations in data interpretation.
@ 14
(correction I meant)… If I am racist or tribalist – it will NOT stop me from employing only one group of people or one group of religion.
When Mazoka created the UPND it had no tribal character at all. So it is factually inaccurate to take Sejani’s rants when succession came about as creating a “cradle”. Sejani must please step up and say something because his rant has been taken as constituting the entire party’s ethos which is also not accurate. Enough said.
Very articulately written piece. The PF click on to the same old tired Sejani and Mwananjiti playbook that happened many years ago and has nothing to do with HH and UPND just so they can divert the attention from their sheer incompetence and corruption.
They have no progressive ideas to appeal to the learned but use the same tactics of pitting brother against brother using the archaic ‘tribe’ approach. They know the Bemba speaking grouping make up the majority of the electorates so they think if they use fear and appeal to their darker side they would prevail. Remember Obama rising over the few racists when he won over John McCain… except John McCain was a decent man who shut down the likes of Monday Monday Chanda and Chishimba Kambwili. The problem is Lungu is the one sponsoring…
…The problem is Lungu is the one sponsoring this tribal bigotry. If only Zambians were clever enough to see through it.
I hear s!lly arguments like Tongaz only vote their fellow Tongaz… please tell me which Tonga or Lozi stood in Mporokoso and actually won the MP ticket? Please stop this nonsense… we all know at the MP level, people stand in a Constituency they hail fromz with the exception of Urban areas like LSK an C/B.
If we can say only a Zambian born of Zambian parents can become President, what is wrong with saying that only a person from a particular tribe can lead a party. Citizenship to Zambia is open to anyone who wants but the Presidency is only open to some. Is it not the same thing to say that membership to a particular party is open to all who want it but the presidency should be from a particular tribe. Akson Sejani said out loud what silently prevails in certain situations. This is what we do in Zambia. UNIP denied Zambians many fundamental rights and freedoms, but our President cried when Palestinians were denied the same by Israel. He arrested UPP leaders, but fought tirelessly to have Mandela released. By the way, I am not Tonga.
My uncle KyambaGod somewhat looks like the Karl Marx he despises so much. But looks aside, his ideas to me are presidential, or he should have at least been an MP to contribute to the development of our country. Some readers who are blinded by political party affiliations do not read any written material with an open mind. They are probably paid well by their masters and their families are oblivious to the abject poverty the common people are experiencing throughout the country. Instead of countering the accusations KyambaGod has leveled against the PF and their man Sunday Chanda, they would rather cite names and issues not covered in the article, such as the Tonga tribe, Sejani, HH, etc. May be it is something to do with the level of education of Zambians who surf the online news sources…
… These are the kinds of people who are ready to carry pangas and other weapons ready to slaughter anyone who criticizes their sacred party and paymasters. God save us from these hooligans!
I am beginning to suspect that the Kaizar Zulu on this forum is actually Sunday Chanda, or they are both assigned to be online in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, and in the night. The hatred the two have against UPND and the Tonga people is similar. Icalo lifupa,
Please Kaizar Zulu, comment on the issues and matters Kiambalesa has discussed. The beauty you see in people like ECL, GBM, CK, Nkandu Luo, Davies Mwila, the bold-headed Sunday Chanda and others in the PF will not solve the problems facing our country and its people. In your delusional opinion, you are more handsome than the author of this article, but is that what Zambians are interested in, or are you a homose[x]ual looking for other men to associate with?
The Saint, you have exposed your naivety. How can you argue so simplistically?
Only mentally and intellectually challenged buffoons and riff-raffs like KZ can mimic Rupiah B. Banda’s opinion that Michael C. Sata was so ugly that school children were extremely scared whenever they saw him. And what kind of a responsible parent would expose a child to rubbish that is constantly peddled on line. Child abuse!!??
Comment #7: Politics is not a beauty contest. It is about who has a better and more practical development agenda. Kaizar Zulu and some of the other mentally retarded PF supporters sound like they would even find pleasure in laughing at physically handicapped citizens. Kambwili once called Nalumango “ugly.” Do the likes of CK and KZ look in the mirror and find anything elegant in there? The online portrait of KZ, for example, shows a stunted individual who we would sarcastically refer to as “kanya mbale” in ki-kaonde.
Yeah, Number 31, natural men do not see or look for beauty in other fellow men; only weird or queer men do.
UPND had explained to Zambians what Sejane meant with only a Tonga meant. Before Zambians stated questioning UPND, The top 10 leaders were from one tribe. The only reason other tribes are entertained in UPND is because they can win with Southern Province alone. Kyambalesa look and his thinking are the same.
“UPND had explained to Zambians what Sejane meant with only a Tonga meant. Before Zambians stated questioning UPND, The top 10 leaders were from one tribe. The only reason other tribes are entertained in UPND is because they can win with Southern Province alone. Kyambalesa look and his thinking are the same.” It is embarrassing to have Zambians who make incomprehensible comments online for the entire world to read. Does anyone understand what “kci” at comment #36 is telling readers?