NC’WALA NOW A POLITICAL EVENT
THE people of Eastern Province are shocked and saddened that the once respected Nc’wala traditional ceremony had been turned into a divisive political event where a wedge was drawn between President Hakainde Hichilema and his predecessor Edgar Lungu, Paradius Sakala former Sinda District Commissioner Paradius Sakala has said.
It was shocking, he said that former President Lungu was disregarded in preference of President Hichilema at a traditional ceremony that should have been working at reconciling the two leaders.
Mr Sakala said it was the first time in the history of the Nc’wala ceremony that political leader could be banished from attending on account that a sitting President had been invited to grace the occasion.
“Nc’wala has never been a political gathering and it has been a ceremony that promoted unity. To ask former President Lungu, who hails from Eastern Province not to attend and even accuse him that he would cause confusion because President Hichilema would be in attendance is making our cherished traditional ceremony a political event where only the ruling elite should be present. We are losing our traditional values and this should immediately stop,” Mr Sakala said.
Mr Sakala said that the former President Lungu had to be rudely asked not to attend his own traditional ceremony, the Nc’wala, on grounds that the traditional leadership had invited President Hichilema had essentially converted the ceremony into a political event that could only be attended by the ruling party.
He said Paramount Chief Mpezeni of the Ngoni people should have taken advantage of the Nc’wala to allow President Hichilema and former President Lungu to be at the same place at the same time so that he could counsel them to promote unity and harmony in the country.
“I would like to appeal to traditional authorities in the country to desist the temptation of taking political sides when it comes to the protection of tradition and cultural values. Reports that former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu has declined to attend this year’s Nc’wala ceremony because he had earlier been advised to stay away because the occasion was going to be graced by President Hakainde Hichilema was the most unfortunate in this age and era,” Mr Sakala said.
Mr Sakala, a PhD candidate at the University of Zambia said the royal establishment in Eastern Province had abdicated their sovereign right of reconciling perceived political foes by choosing to wedge a sword between citizens they were supposed to reconcile.
“This is a missed opportunity that our royal establishment has missed and goes to show that as a province, we are a long way to salvage our natural instinct of being the ‘wise ones’ as professed in the Bible.”
“For those that can recall, President Levy Mwanawasa attended traditional ceremonies in Southern Province where Anderson Mazoka would even be given a platform to speak even when the State had a different position,” Mr Sakala said.
He has since appealed to the traditional leadership in the country to ensure that traditional ceremonies should not only remain historic in nature but also be used to ease tension in the country especially now that the nation is faced with many social and economic challenges.
Mr Sakala said tradition and culture should always come first before politics, and therefore political affiliation should not dictate how traditional leadership should relate with their own subjects.
“Something better must be done otherwise the move divides our province even more because people are taking their individual differences into a cultural event that is very retrogressive.”