By Henry Kanyanta Sosala

Eckhart Tolle wrote: ‘’Whatever you fight, you ignite and whatever you resist, persists.’’

Preamble

Every ethics, whether theological or philosophical depends upon two postulates in order to be possible, namely: freedom of will and accountability. And indeed being the most senior member in the hierarchy of the Bemba royal family, I am therefore bound to speak out in the strongest possible terms against Bemba people who have abandoned their role of protecting the interests of their tribe.

And indeed traditional rulers should step in when politics touches upon morals and students of society regard politics and sociology as cognate disciplines. Clearly, a science of society cannot ignore the political context and the political theorist cannot ignore social problems and possibilities. Ideas and truths must be linked to purposes and tangible facts on the ground otherwise they are useless and sterile. It is therefore not difficult to understand how this has furthered the links between political science and sociology, especially in the ameliorative roles.

It was in 1967 and we were in Kabwe at the residence of Mr. Robinson Puta, then Chairman of Zambia Railways and after persuading and threatening Mr. Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe to stand for UNIP’s position of Vice-President in order to save us from the UNIP tyranny, Mr. Kapwepwe, the Bemba political hero slowly said,

‘’We as Bemba must never take any political regime for granted, we must always be on the defensive.’’

These words have since stood like mountain peaks in my mind. And four years later the colossus resigned as Zambia’s Republican Vice-President in the UNIP regime because the Bemba people were being subjected to unbearable persecutions. He later formed the phoenix-like UPP (United Progressive Party), which later forced UNIP to declare a one party state.

However, as you read this article, we at the tail-end of history are able to realize that future has proved the colossus right! President Sata censured Honourable Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba for having visited me since there was a national policy drawn up after I was de-gazetted as Senior Chief Mwamba of the Bemba people by cabinet at the instigation of President Sata ‘’to totally hate and isolate me.’’

Honourable Mwamba being a member of the Bemba royal family failed to betray his tribe for the sake of money and position. In fact before Honourable Mwamba had paid a courtesy call on me in Kasama, he even took a precaution measure by inviting two officers from the Office of the President to monitor our meeting. And yet President Sata rebuked him ‘’for failing to show collective responsibility on his part as a Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament for the ruling party.’’ (The Post 24th December 2013).

Honourable Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba resigned as Defence Minister.

‘’ …it’s important for Zambians to know that I hail from the Bemba royal family and it is therefore unacceptable for President Sata to stop me from visiting my grandfather. There is no way I am going to forsake my own blood for the sake of politics. So for me as GBM, I am sorry. I am a very principled person and I resign from government.’’

I now strongly believe that sometimes the best attitude to have in life is a stubborn attitude. I know that it may sound strange, because most of us have been raised to think that stubbornness is a negative trait. But sometimes it is the stubborn mind that gets the blessing. What do I mean by that? When the enemy shows up to do harm and destroy, the stubborn mind refuses to bow to the gigantic state power and machinery. But sometimes it is the stubborn mind that perseveres both physical and mental torture.American President Theodore Roosevelt once said,

‘’Patriotic men do not shrink from danger when conscience points the path.’’

And when some people who had managed to secure my exit from Zambia were insisting that I grab the opportunity offered by two countries to flee into exile because of the great threat on my life, since the regime was in the process of installing ‘’a fake parallel Chitimukulu,’’ the stubborn mind was saying, ‘’keep praying and believing. No power in heaven or earth can shut the door that the Lord has opened.’’

In human creation we come in all shapes and sizes, but we are all equal human beings before and God and before human institutions. I say so because there are some people in this country with shoddy thinking who might misinterpret my article as if I am trying to establish hegemony or ascendancy of the Bemba tribe over others. I strongly believe that all Zambian tribes are equal and this can be clearly seen on successful inter-tribal marriages.

I strongly believe that all Zambian tribes are equal and this can be clearly seen on successful inter-tribal marriages.

And I do not think we should fear to mirror historic fluctuations between ethnic and civic conceptions of identity, but instead they should fall in a middle ground where each cultural group should scope for the maintenance of cultural and ethnic differences, but which are all harmoniously embedded in a broader Zambian identity. And therefore the new and natural Zambian identity must be forward-looking, but rooted in the past and that would finally engrave Zambianness in our daily landscape.

A British social worker, Tarq Modood working among immigrants said: ‘’Equality is not having to hide or apologize for one’s origins, family or community, but to expect others to respect them and adapt public attitudes and arrangements so that the heritage they represent is encouraged, rather than contemptuously expected to wither away.’’ (Newsweek 15th December 1997).

Professor Mubanga Kashoki in Factor of Language in Zambia wrote: ‘’I believe in our diversity despite its problems lies our national strength, greatness and riches but only if we recognize diversity as a national asset and consciously encourage its positive exploitation. I also believe that so far, in our preoccupation with its negative manifestations of ethnic particularism, referred to in Africa as tribalism, we have tended to give greater weight to the negative aspect of our diversity at the expense of its more positive attributes. Nobody would deny the dangers that are inherent in diversity particularly in a society where negative attitudes are assiduously cultivated and consciously build into political and cultural philosophies that are involved to guide those societies.’’

However, instead of being aggrieved and complaining just write your own story. And by the way, I am a free-thinker and one of the tenets of being a free-think is to tell people what they need to know rather than what they want to hear. I want also to make it abundantly clear to political opportunists and job seekers that I am a traditional ruler and as such in every situation I must always be focused and take a superior moral ‘’stand’’ than politicians. As far as the political game is concerned ‘’there are no permanent enemies,’’ and I must never therefore take an aggressive stance against one side, when politicians are in conflict because when as usual they ‘’politically reconcile’’ I can remain in a very awkward and embarrassing position.

Political and Traditional Leadership

Traditional authority refers to powers that are associated with and emanate from the institution of chieftaincy. In African societies, traditional rulers derive their authority from customs and traditions that have existed since time immemorial. Traditional rulers are custodians and repositories of traditional customs and cultural heritage. And therefore traditional leadership is inherently political. This is born out of history, custom and practice because before the present mode of governments in Africa, traditional kingship was the sole government.

I must also make it abundantly clear that any tribe is not an inert and static thing as some political demagogues think, but it is an organism which changes with time and devoted works of anthropologists, sociologists and historians bear witness to this fact and only the megalomaniacs would dismiss any tribal political system as primitive and chaotic. So it is not only political nationalism (which was birthed in Zambia after World War II), which has the monopoly of intellectual development but tradition as well and to underestimate political enlightenment of one is to make a grave and dangerous mistake. In fact with long history, chieftaincy retains a powerful genius loci.

In this respect, Professor Vincent Harris referred to a widely held view that tribal power in Africa is on the way out and he asks whether the assumption is valid: ‘’We may be misled, if we mistake revolutionary changes in tribal customs for decay. The potency of resurgent tribal power should not be underestimated, on the contrary its dynamic power should be harnessed to the task of national building.’’ (Tribalism in Africa: Journal of African Administration).

The African nation-state called Northern Rhodesia was created by the European colonizer for his own administrative convenience.

[pullquote]The African nation-state called Northern Rhodesia was created by the European colonizer for his own administrative convenience.[/pullquote]

These groupings of chiefdoms today form the immutable geopolitical boundaries. And Zambia today as a nation is a federation of chiefdoms voluntarily united to meet their common economic, social, cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled central government which is run by tribes women and men from various chiefdoms within the territorial boundaries. And that is why one of the founders and father of this new nation, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda in applauding this wonderful unification of various chiefdoms came up with the motto: One Zambia, One Nation.

Many years ago I read in a book of biology about the eresid spiders which upon reaching maturity devour their mothers. And in the same way, cyber-greed has crept into the hearts of our tribal representatives at the national level, normally called ‘’politicians’’ who have now become cannibals ready to devour their parental leaders, called ‘’chiefs.’’

Many people are puzzled as to why politicians who have become superhuman beings; they have awarded themselves colossal salaries, allowances and other fringe benefits; they are chauffer-driven in posh air-conditioned vehicles; they live in mansions and have everything within their easy reach at a mere spoken word, but why should they make such desperate attempts to sum-zero and push simple chiefs into disrepute? And why has the eresidian judgement passed upon chiefs?

Indeed, many people can never understand what is behind these political manoeuvres, but students of politics have learned the subtleties of politics especially from the 16th century philosopher, Machiavelli who inspired tyrants like Mussolini, Hitler. And his advice on how best to maintain power is to take into account of the classes out of which power springs. Machiavelli followed strict classical precedents in describing a cycle of constitutional changes from monarchy, through necessary stages, to popular government, which in turn led to license and anarchy and back to monarchy, such is the cycle which all republics are destined to run through

And Adolf Hitler in his famous book, Mein Kampf (which is a must for every student of politics) wrote:

’’Popular support is the first element which is necessary for the creation of authority. But an authority resting on that foundation alone is still quite frail, uncertain and vacillating. Hence everyone who finds himself vested with an authority that is based only on popular support must take measures to improve and consolidate the foundations of that authority by the creation of force. Accordingly, we must look upon power, that is to say, the capacity to use force, as the second foundation on which all authority is based. This foundation is more stable and secure, but not always stronger, than the first. If popular support and power are united together and can endure for a certain time, then an authority may arise which is based on a still stronger foundation, namely, the authority of tradition. And, finally, if popular support, power and tradition are united together, then the authority based on them may be looked upon as invincible.’’

An English man Walter Begehat said:

‘’Royalty (tradition) is a government in which the attention is concentrated in one person doing interesting actions. A Republic (politics) is a government in which that attention is divided among many, who are doing interesting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and human reason weak, Royalty (tradition) will be strong because it appeals to diffused feelings and Republic (politics) weak because it appeals to the understanding.’’ And besides, traditional rulers stand on a more superior moral ground than politicians. And in fact tradition authorities have a longer span of life than political regimes.

…To be continued…..