CHIEF LUNDU FUMES OVER REALIGNMENT OF CHAMA

By GIDEON NYENDWA

THE realignment of Chama from Muchinga to Eastern province is not welcome because it was bulldozed by only few individuals using forged signatures on the petition handed to the President, Chief Lundu has charged
Chief Lundu has revealed that the chiefs never sat down to discuss and deliberate on this issue but to their shock their signatures were found on the letter that was sent to the President.

“I personally never signed that letter,” he said.

He has appealed to President Hakainde Hichilema to reverse the decision because the petition he received was fraudulent.

Chief Lundu of the Senga people said that the people of Chama were unhappy with the realignment of the district back to Eastern Province because the issue was not subjected to a debate by all chiefs like it was the case in Chirundu and Itezhi-tezhi.

The traditional leader said that the majority of the chiefs in the district were not part of the petition that was made to the President asking for the realignment of the district back to Eastern Province.
“We were not part of it, here it was a one man’s show,” he said.
Recently, President Hichilema made intent of the move for some districts which has since been actualised through Statutory Instrument Number 114 of 2021 and the Provincial and District Boundaries Act volume 16, cap 286 of the laws of Zambia which saw Chirundu, Itezhi-tezhi and Chama being realigned back to their original provinces.

However, Chief Lundu said Chama has seven chiefs and only two chiefs were advocating for the realignment of the district back to Eastern Province.

He said the letter that was written to President Hichilema requesting him to consider taking the district to Eastern Province was misleading because it did not have the blessing of all the chiefs.

Chief Lundu said that even the reasons that were put forward for wanting to be aligned back were not valid because the people of Chama originally were not from Eastern Province because they came from the Luba-Lunda kingdom.

Chief Lundu said the name Muchinga was derived from the Muchinga Escarpment that was in his chiefdom and he does not know what would happen to the name of the province now that it has been taken to Eastern Province.

He also said that aligning Chama to Muchinga had brought development to the district because the province only had nine districts which was easier to share resources than being taken to a province where there are 14 districts.
“The move was like burying Chama,” he said.
Chief Lundu has appealed to President Hichilema that if it was possible for his decision to be reversed let it be done before it was too late.