‘Counsel UPND against tribalism’

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 10:59:28 +0000

TRADITIONAL leaders in Southern Province should immediately assemble the UPND leadership and address the ugly specter of tribalism that has emerged in the region because there is a danger that Zambia may degenerate into tribal war if the vice is not curbed, Government has said.

And Mr Chishimba Kambwili has charged that if he had his way, he would have recommended the disbandment of the UPND because the opposition party had become a danger to the unity and peace of the country.

Meanwhile, Mr Kambwili has advised the people of Western and North-Western provinces to understand that the UPND was only using them to get Mr Hichilema into State House and that was why the opposition party had reserved the positions of Chief Whip and leader of opposition in the House for Garry Nkombo and Jack Mwiimbu who were both Tonga from the same region.

Mr Kambwili, who is Information and Broadcasting minister , accused the UPND of being the source of tribalism, alleging that the party was using the people of Southern Province to install Hakainde Hichilema as president on the basis of tribe.

He said in an interview that the UPND was condemned to remain in the opposition in perpetuity because of tribalism and attempts to camouflage itself by using a few people from Northern and Luapula Provinces was not going to help Mr Hichilema from taking over the governance of the country. Mr Kambwili complained that while the UPND was given votes from the seven regions where the PF was strong, it was disheartening that the ruling party was tribally rejected in Southern, Western and North-Western Provinces.

“When Poniso Njeulu and Greford Monde accepted to be appointed deputy Ministers by president Michael Sata, one UPND official issued a tribal statement that as far as the party was concerned, it had not lost any member because the two were not Tonga. And Hakainde Hichilema is on record having scolded one chief in Southern Province for entertaining Bemba speaking people.

So the UPND is only about Tonga. I am calling on the traditional leadership in Southern Province to sit their subjects down and warn them about the dangers of tribalism,2 Mr Kambwili said. He stated that all the 73 tribes in Zambia needed each other and that no region was more important than the other.

Mr Kambwili stated that President Lungu had been preaching unity and had since his ascendancy to the presidency been condemning regionalism because the Head of State understood its perils. “Let us remain brothers and sisters. Bembas need Tongas and the opposite is also true. The people of Eastern Province need those in Southern Province. We all need each other and we should never allow Zambians to be dismembered on account of regional feelings,” Mr Kambwili said.