No gazetting of more chiefdoms - Minister
GOVERNMENT has no immediate plans to gazette and establish more chiefs but maintain the current 288 chiefdoms North Western Province Minister Richard Kapita has said.
Mr Kapita said government would only continue to recognise the 33 chiefdoms in the province inherited from the colonial administration at a time Zambia attained her independence.
He said there was need for traditional leaders to strengthen their traditional governance systems and work closely with their subjects to maintain harmony.
‘’For now as government we will maintain the same number of our traditional leaders which is 288, Mr Kapita said.
The provincial minister was speaking during the Nsakwa ya ba Kaonde traditional ceremony for all Kaonde speaking chiefdoms in the country in Kasempa district at the weekend.
And Mr Kapita has called on traditional leaders to align their chiefdoms development plans in with the seventh national development plan so that no one was left behind on President Edgar Lungu’s development agenda.
And Nsakwa yaba Ka Kaonde national chairperson Dr Mukombo Tambatamba has praised government on the decision to introduce the use of local language as a medium of instructions in lower primary schools.
He said language was a tool for development and unity in the diversity that can be used to promote and maintain cultural heritage.
‘’In this vein, we appeal to government to work with the council chiefs to help find a long lasting in succession disputes that have rocked some chiefdoms,” he said.