Wed, 24 Jan 2018 16:25:58 +0000
By Expendite Chipasha Chipalo
UNITED States of America President Donald Trump’s “sh.thole” comments about Haiti and all the African countries have dominated the political debate worldwide in the last two weeks.
So much anger has been vented against Trump by his own people as well as the international community.
In a heated debate in the House of Commons, British lawmakers called for the cancellation of Donald Trump’s impending state visit to Britain.
The social media as well was abuzz with videos and audios attacking Trump. The one posting that made a lot of sense because it did not just vent anger, but analysed the man as well as the American situation came from an American, a Mr. Dickson White.
Mr. White told Trump that the real”‘sh.thole” nation in the world was America because “it has allowed a racist to operate in the highest office; the presidency.”
“There is no worse pile of shit …… that of all the other countries, that a great nation like America allows its president to be an open white supremacist and then to allow them to function as president – that’s the biggest dirt in the pipe,” Mr. White said.
And that should be the issue that should worry all black nations of the world. How did America allow this openly white supremacist to become the President of the United States? We all know that Donald Trump lost the popular vote to Hilary Clinton, but he was made president through the white dominated Electoral College.
Frankly speaking: The United States of America is a racist country. Trump’s election victory was the white American’s reaction to the Obama presidency. A white supremacist had to go into the white house to “get back our country.”
This clearly tells us that we Africans must look beyond Trump’s disparaging comments and look at what causes this kind of disrespect from people like Donald Trump who are not even as intelligent as African luminaries like Professor Ali Amazurui, Nelson Mandela, Simon Kapwepwe, Kambarage Nyerere, Seretse Khama, Ben Bella, Amilcar Carbral, Chinua Achebe, Steve Biko and many, many more. When will we Africans wake up?
If the horrendous comments from the leader of the nation that claims to champion democracy in the world cannot jolt us into changing direction, then what else will make us think harder and better about our destiny?
It is very unfortunate that the elite in our societies; political leaders, writers, and so on consistently spend time discussing petty issues. They want to lie to the people and divide nations for their personal gain and nothing else.
Last week, one writer, a Mr. Shishuwa Shishuwa wrote an article entitled One Zambia, Two Nations! The disturbing ill-treatment of Tongas in Lungu’s Zambia. It was sent to me on one of the social media groups and I quote part of it.
“I recently attended a social occasion in Lusaka. The event, not unusual in the capital city, brought together Zambians from disparate ethnic groups such as Kaonde, Lunda, Tonga, Bemba, Chewa/Nyanja and Lozi speakers. It was a diversity that gave meaning to the slogan ‘One Zambia One Nation.’ Yet, as one Tonga guest arrived, they were greeted in the Tonga language by another Tonga, a cousin whom they had not seen for a long time and who had arrived at the party much earlier. Both Tongas were swiftly reprimanded by a Bemba speaker who told them ‘Mwatampako…mwalitemwa icitundu cenu’, literally translated as ‘You are at it again. You love your language too much!’ The Bemba guest was of course speaking in Bemba and saw no contradiction in his attempts to marginalise the Tonga guests in this way.
Sadly, what I witnessed that day is not an isolated incident but a microcosm of what is happening in Zambia at present. In places like urban Lusaka, it is somehow regarded as acceptable to communicate in Bemba and Nyanja languages, while those conversing in Tonga are frowned upon or treated with disdain. Language has been retooled to function as an instrument that fosters exclusion or belonging, especially in public spaces. More importantly, those with Tonga names are being victimised and marginalised in workplaces, especially in the civil service, parastatals and security wings. I know of many Tongas working in these sectors who have been removed from their positions over the last year or retired in ‘national interest.’ One recent and troubling example is the unexpected dismissal of Richard Mwiinga, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF) in December 2017.”
This is the type of petty journalism which responds to its political sponsors. But before I continue with my comments let me correct an historical fact regarding what we may call urban languages or lingua franca. Firstly, the Bemba people have never forced their language upon the Zambian population. Anthropologists and scholars in other fields have explained the spread of Bemba in many works which one can access at the National Archives, the Catholic Library in Bauleni and even on the internet.
Before the advent of the mining industry on the Copperbelt, Bemba was spoken widely in Northern, Luapula and parts of Central Provinces. It could also be understood by tribes in neighbouring districts because they had related words which sometimes only differed in pronunciation.
As the mining industry expanded, many Bembas went to work in the mines and they became the predominant labour force on the Copperbelt. Thus Bemba became the language of commerce in the mining towns. Whether one wanted to propose a woman, order some opaque beer in a tavern, cheer a sports team and so on. It was also the language of instruction in the schools at lower primary and this was a decision of the colonial government, not the Bemba Paramount chief, Chitimukulu.
The Bemba language spread to other parts of the country as the population expanded and matured. The miners’ children went to work in other parts of the country and the miners themselves retired back to their homes. It is important to emphasise here that the spread of the Bemba language is not a political scheme but a normal social phenomenon which should not irritate any right thinking person.
The spread of Nyanja has similar characteristics. By the way, the Nyanja language does not belong to one particular tribe of Zambia, it is a bastardisation of Chewa and Ngoni. Its roots lie in the King’s African Rifles and the Northern Rhodesian Constabulary. Nyanja was the language of instruction in the Colonial Armies in and police forces of present day Malawi and Zambia.
It was widely spoken in Lusaka because the city was a garrison town with two army cantons and the Police Training School and all ranks had to learn and speak the language. So did their children and when they went to school, sporting events or elsewhere, they spread the language. There is no political plot by President Lungu, the Patriotic Front or any other group to force other ethnic groups to speak Nyanja. Learning a language is a matter of choice.
Therefore Mr. Shishuwa Shishuwa should not make the Tonga people feel as if they are oppressed or that there is an effort to repress their language. As a writer, he should check his facts before he creates tension between ethnic groups in Zambia. A feeling of inferiority or superiority complex can lead to negative outcomes. Mr. Shishuwa, free your brothers and sisters from this type of complex; let them be happy and laugh with everybody. We are all in the same boat: The Poverty Boat.
I doubt the incident you are describing above took place anywhere outside of your head. The issue of Mr. Mwiinga has been overtaken by events. He has since issued a statement denying any links with those alleging that he was removed on tribal lines. My comment is that people who feel they have been unfairly removed from public office have a right to challenge the authorities in court.
Our country will not go anywhere if we are going to have tribal appointments to public office without merit. If we look at the pension industry in Zambia, we can all see that it is in trouble because of the same problem. Wrongs are being tolerated on ethnic and social affiliations. A public officer who is accountable for his actions cannot rely on tribalism or use it to mask his failures.
As if this was not enough petty news, during the same week, former Foreign Affairs Minister and Member of Parliament for Bahati Constituency Mr. Harry Kalaba flew to Mansa to go and meet “his people.” What a petty speech he made. “I am the son of a chief. When I cry people hear me. Some of us blood is on the axe.” Whatever he meant by that.
The Chipili Member of Parliament Mr. Lewis Chabi who accompanied Mr. Kalaba complained that the PF had not taken any development to Luapula despite the high number of votes it got from the province. He went on to make a veiled threat of mystical powers as the crowd ululated. Wither Africa!
One social media commentator who saw the clip of Mr. Kalaba’s flight into Mansa wrote as follows: “Flying to constituency? He drove all the time. Where did the money come from to hire a plane? The speech too tribal. The other guy touting on literally practicing witchcraft. This day and age; his starting point has no basis to get any wise crowd.
“Umwana wa mfumu (son of a chief), so what and bengi (they are many). I can’t see him getting anywhere because there is basically no ground strong enough to eye catch intelligent and wise supporters. He will regret if he cannot change course early.”
This horrible retreat to tribalism when we want to rise to power has to come to a stop. We Africans must raise our bar much higher. We have mountains of problems which no single tribe let alone a single nation can solve on its own. We must espouse ideas that will bring social and economic development to our villages, towns and countries so that we reverse the migration of our peoples to the west.
We can leapfrog Europe in development and bring pride to our race and continent. The greatest athletes are blacks: Jesse Owens and Hussain Bolt; the greatest footballer in the world is black: Pele; the greatest boxer is black: Muhammad Ali; the richest man who ever lived is black: Emperor Mansa Mussa; the most revered modern politician is black: Nelson Mandela. And there are many more.
Our leaders in every sphere must raise the African bar higher than the likes of Donald Trump and his “shithole” nation which has lost leadership of the world.
Yours truly
Troubleshooter
ecchipalo@yahoo.co.uk / pentvision@gmail.com / ecchipalo@icloud.cloud.com
60 95 5873515
