Traditional leaders should be promoting unity

Editor,

Abolish NGOs in Africa and stop noise. How can you develop your country by protesting every day? Look at the noise over those fire engines, it’s like protesting that government should not build hospitals. I feel western and eastern blocs should stop funding these NGOs so that they stop making noise. Editor,

What development are the NGOs talking about? When they have failed to build schools, hospitals or even pit latrines. What they know is just to protest and eat money from donors. Today, Africa is crying because of their failure to deliver. Dear Editor,

IF there is something that must be distressing the majority of Zambians to their marrow today, it must be the issue of tribalism or regionalism.

We cannot all but hide our heads in the sand like that foolish ostrich and pretend that all is well in our great nation.

Latest events in the Southern Province do not point to national unity when traditional ceremonies are being turned into political arenas to pour scorn on those in authority just because one of theirs is not in State House.

The situation becomes even more disquieting when chiefs take the centre stage in promoting such regionalism or tribalism for that matter.

If there is one tribe in Zambia which thinks it can produce a republican president on its own, then it is better off waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ because that will NOT happen.

If our Tonga brothers and sisters for starters, think they can produce a Tonga president on their own, I want to assure them that it will not happen, no matter what.

The same goes for Bembas, Nyanjas, Kaondes, Luvales, Lozis etc etc. They all need other tribes to make it to Plot One. By the way Zambia has 73 tribes to reckon with.

No one tribe should feel big headed and think it knows better. All tribes in Zambia are important and add value to the nation.

So for me, chiefs like Mukuni (who spends nights at cemeteries with the dead, for whatever reasons) Moonze and Hamusonde are not helping their son Hakainde Hichilema in any way.

They are not adding value to him because the rest of Zambians will feel isolated through such thinking and I am sure you can guess the consequences of such undertakings.

Surely, what do these chiefs hope to achieve by shunning the government of the day? Will that take HH to State House? They should stop and think seriously.

For me, all the bucks squarely stop at HH. I could be wrong, but I think he may be the one influencing the chiefs to behave in that fashion because he is always the main thespian at these functions. Is that by sheer coincidence?

Frankly speaking, all this will not help him much because politics, they say, is about numbers. He badly needs these numbers to make his State House dreams come true.

Indeed, if on the other hand HH does not want to embrace non-Tongas by being a Tonga instead of a Zambian, then he can forget ruling Zambia in all his life time.

Perhaps this explains why President Julius Nyerere (MHRIEP) of Tanzania abolished the chiefdoms and turned all the chiefs into ordinary citizens.

Again, I wish to earnestly appeal to HH to turn to God and begin to embrace all Zambians regardless of their tribes. That is the only way forward. Concerned Senior Citizen.