By Sunday Chilufya Chanda
Today we welcome Comrade Hon Ephraim Kaang’andu Belemu, United Party for National Development (UPND) MP for Mbabala Constituency. Last week we welcomed Comrade Hon Charles Kakoma, immediate past Spokesperson for the United Party for National Development (UPND). These are nationalists who have refused to drink from the bitter cup of tribalism. More nationalists are on their way out because enough is enough!
The Patriotic Front is against all forms of tribal discrimination, and we shall fight tribalism by exposing it; but that does not mean we practice it.
In the words of His Excellency President Edgar Chagwa Lungu:
“Zambia is a great nation with a great destiny. This can only happen when we learn to celebrate our diversity as a people – 73 tribes, One Zambia, One Nation!”
Over the years, months, weeks, and days, credible men and women have resigned from the Opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) citing tribalism.
Patriotic Front has no time or space for tribal talk or tribal elements. We leave that to those whose associations and political grouping was established for that purpose.
Our focus as President Lungu appropriately put it:
“My Government’s preoccupation is to develop Zambia. I believe that our generation is that generation of Zambians that shall refuse to shrink in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, the same way that today’s industrialized countries refused to shrink when they faced their own development challenges.”
While the Patriotic Front is pre-occupied with developing the country, there are others that are preoccupied with entering State House even if it is by tribal or underhand means.
Since 2006 when Zambia’s main opposition party was formed, there has been a marked emergence of negative ethnicity manifested in vote discrimination and voting imbalance.
While the opposition has from time to time won a few seats in ruling party strongholds, no political party or candidate has ever won any election whether at Ward, Constituency level or any Presidential Vote in the opposition leaders region. The voting patterns in the opposition leaders region have without exception, predictably been focused along tribal lines and ethnic allegiances.
It is incriminating on the part of the UPND that while it campaigns and seek votes in ruling Party strongholds and sometimes win, they have never been questioned why they do not campaign in their opposition leaders region and yet they have always won in this area. This imbalance and vote discrimination has to be interrogated it is blatant tribal sectarianism.
They talk of One Zambia one nation in public and in the media but them walk the walk of tribalism and talk the talk of ethnic loyalty in their strongholds. What also needs to be interrogated is why there is significantly more violence and bloodshed in during elections in opposition strongholds than there is in Ruling party strongholds.
What has emerged over the years in the UPND stronghold opposition leaders region is beyond political violence… it is sponsored Militant Tribalism.
It is Tribalism and Sectarianism fuelled by the patronization and personalisation of the main opposition by its current leader who manipulated his party’s constitution to gift him an unlimited tenure.
Is it a coincidence that since 2006 tribalism and regionalism has seriously threatened the continuation of a harmonious and fraternal Zambian society? Through the divisive negative influence of tribalism, some selfish power seeking opportunists have of late intensified their mission under their political banner of tribalism and regionalism, to stir up confusion, division and chaos, to satisfy their own personal, selfish and petty secondary interests. Whilst Zambians have remained like one family unit despite their diverse backgrounds, the UPND under Mr. Hakainde Hichilema is pushing an aggressive Tribal agenda disguised to appeal to a certain ethnic grouping. The UPND is now starting to eat its own children!
The UPND leader is determined to make an entire tribe look Tribal. We must isolate the tribalist from the tribe. This Tribalist should not taint the historical good image of the people of Southern Province and the legacy of a great people. We call on Zambians to reject politicians who seek to rise on a tribal platform. We are not like Mr Hakainde Hichilema and UPND. He pursues tribal interests aimed at consolidating his political backing. Patriotic Front on the other hand espouses social equality, and rejects tribalism and all forms of racial and or ethnic discrimination.
Every tribe is good and every tribe is equal. The tribalist should stop hiding behind tribe. His Excellency President Edgar Chagwa Lungu and the Patriotic Front are resolved to infuse and fortify a true sense of nationalism that transcended the country’s natural ethnic divisions.
We therefore call upon all Zambians to focus on working in harmony regardless of one’s political or tribal inclination. We must all contribute positively, in any way we can, in order to ensure that tribal harmony and peace and tranquillity continues. Our nation remains the envy of many nations. Let us not take advantage of the peaceful privilege Zambia enjoys.
God bless Zambia
Let brotherly and Sisterly Love Continue.
When you look into the mirror, all you see is yourself.
So, all this unrepentant tr1bal1st sees is tribal1sm – even when what clearly lies at the heart of the matter is “akasaka kandalama”, aka ’empowerment’. Smh 🙁
Muhammadu Buhari wins northern Nigeria,Uhuru Kenyatta wins central Kenya and Abiy Ahmed wins in Oromia region of Ethiopia.These are their strongholds so does it mean they’re also tribalists? NONSENSE TRIBALISTIC ARTICLE .
Sunday Chanda should tell us why the PF Govt has not released to the Public the Commission of Inquiry Report into Voting Patterns? Why is it all the Appointments made by the ECL PF Govt as Ministers,Deputy Ministers, PS, Directors,Board Members etc are from Provinces that are perceived strongholds? Why are Officials belonging to Tonga and other Tribes in Opposition Strongholds always retired in the so called National Interests by the PF Govt ? Has Sunday Chanda ever heard of “ku modzi kumawa “? Why is the New Voters Roll compromised in favour of PF Strongholds? Instead of uniting People of Zambia, ECL has always Divided the Nation in Regional and Tribal terms so who is a Tribalist? It’s not a Secret that PF believes and subscribes to Tribalism and Regionalism. It’s a Case of a Witch…
we should be talking about altruistic Zambians. of course altruism starts with love for ones family, tribe , province and finally Zambia. this should be the basis for national development. it should be anchored on intermarriages.
The only people you see and hear campaigning on tribal lines are PF and their surrogates. To try and cover this, they go on the offensive and paint Tongas as being tribal. I wonder how the Tongas in PF feel about all this? Surely for a few coins they would stand idly by while their party mates repeatedly and unjustly savage their own people. Despicable! Have they ever thought of the lasting effects of this on their people? Do they not realise that this kind of talk is likely to lead to genocide against their own people and eventually against they themselves?
Love him or hate him, Sunday Chanda has just called a spade a spade.
There is absolutely no spade that Sunday Chanda has called out here. Some of you in PF has thrived on labeling non-Bemba speakers as tribalists. I never heard any whimper when Chitotela, Luo and others told people in Northen Zambia that Tongas are genocidal and evil or when one minister called others roaches. The genocide in Rwanda began with issues like that. To imagine that you so called Zambian citizen sees sense in this trash talk by Chanda confirms the findings of a sociological study that stated that “Those in power in may African countries thrive on tribalism, ethnicity and regionalism to ostracize and marginalize those in opposition” You guys are mentally ill.
This is one of the most powerful articles to be ever published on Lusaka times. It has hit the nail on the head. Only angry upnd diasporans will be angered by this because they are tribal dogs
“ONLY A TONGA MUST LEAD UPND” says Sejani. If someone was there in 2006 when these words were uttered by Sejani a T.onga himeslf you would not doubt that UPND is for T.ongas. if you want to confirm this just conduct a rough reaseach, the results will indicate that 90% of T.ongas are UPND and UPND has always been headed by a T.onga, UPND lacks national character in contrast it is a regional party. You also remember these words;” IT IS NOW TIME FOR A T.ONGA TO RULE” says Daniel Munkombwe. These words were uttered by Munkombwe a T.onga himself. So UPND apart from being a tribal party it is also a party pushing for a T.onga president. In short UPND is heavily linked to T.omgas which is trying to ride on other tribes to a T.onga president KWAMANA
IT TAKES A TRIBALIST TO KNOW ANOTHER TRIBALIST.
Politicians are going to destroy this country, you country men and women. The divide and rule tactics they are using. The fight we have now is not between any two political organizations which I don’t want to mention here. The battle is between the Zambians elite to which all the the opportunities go(jobs, scholarships, money, contracts, mention them) and the Zambian poor and average person who has no place in the high places and corridors of power. Not va mene akamba uyu apa ni boza. Zambians wake up, the hunger knows no tribe, expired drugs know no tribe, defective condoms knows no tribe. The Zambian elite should know that the Zambian people will very soon see through all their tricks.
Entertain leaders who, through their actions, are proud to be Zambians and believe Zambians do not need help to develop Zambia. The leader should sing a song of hope. Nevers Mumba seems getting closer and could be the hope after Edgar 2026. Edgar Lungu, though too late, he now sees. Regarding the mines, Edgar is no longer blind, he sees.
Ladies and gentlemen let’s have an intelligent discourse. “… entering State House even if it is by tribal or underhand means”. So that’s why you keep on harassing HH, to an extent that you bury his votes in graves as was the case during the 2016 in Kalulushi. How would you like to be treated after 23 August?
“You can no longer see or identify yourself solely as a member of a tribe, but as a citizen of a nation of one people working toward a common purpose.”
– idowu koyenikan, Wealth for all Africans: How Every African Can Live the Life of Their Dreams
“People who think with their epidermis or their genitalia or their clan are the problem to begin with. One does not banish this specter by invoking it. If I would not vote against someone on the grounds of ‘race’ or ‘gender’ alone, then by the exact same token I would not cast a vote in his or her favor for the identical reason. Yet see how this obvious question makes fairly intelligent people say the most alarmingly stupid things.”
– Christopher Hitchens
The genocide [in Rwanda] was not a spontaneous eruption of tribal hatred, it was planned by people wanting to keep power. There was a long government-led hat campaign against the Tutsis.
We have hope in the from of UNIP. Zambians have a choice to align themselves with the values they believe in. UNIP’s new leader Bishop Mwamba in my view is the perfect candidate to unite this country. The problem is not with the corrupt leadership or tribalists but us the people. We entertain such nonsense even when we see clear wrong doing. We forget very easily and fall for criminals in the hope that they would give us a different result. Failed politicians are exactly that, failures. We need to learn how to move on and show that we mean business by taking a stance of zero tolerance with corrupt and divisive politicians. After all God has blessed us with this wonderful nation we can call home.
We have hope in the from of UNIP. Zambians have a choice to align themselves with the values they believe in. UNIP’s new leader Bishop Mwamba in my view is the perfect candidate to unite this country. The problem is not with the corrupt leadership or tribal1st5 but us the people. We entertain such nonsense even when we see clear wrong doing. We forget very easily and fall for criminals in the hope that they would give us a different result. Failed politicians are exactly that, failures. We need to learn how to move on and show that we mean business by taking a stance of zero tolerance with corrupt and divisive politicians. After all God has blessed us with this wonderful nation we can call home.
But to hide things under carpet is not right. We all know the voting pattern of UPND, do we all think all Tonga’s don’t see a good in PF? If yes then we should leave this topic and pretend all is well. We know that things are not good at all. When you go to northern, we do found those who are not happy with PF and those in support but not the same in Southern? Twilaibepa. UPND is for Tonga’s and every Tonga has been taught to support only UPND finish.
We have hope in the from of UNIP. Zambians have a choice to align themselves with the values they believe in. UNIP’s new leader Bishop Mwamba in my view is the perfect candidate to unite this country. The problem is not with the corrupt leadership or tribalists but us the people. We entertain such nonsense even when we see clear wrong doing. We forget very easily and fall for criminals in the hope that they would give us a different result. Failed politicians are exactly that, failures. We need to learn how to move on and show that we mean business by taking a stance of zero tolerance with corrupt and divisive politicians. After all God has blessed us with this wonderful nation we can call home.
We know that UPND is trying to buy votes from others tribes but they focus is for a Tonga president to lead this nation. And what is prevailing now in the party will be worse if voted in power. We are all Zambian and we should embrace everyone but not iyaba Ndundu’s tefintu. Those in support go for it but don’t say you were not warned.
Zambia is a beautiful country. We are spoiled rotten for choice so it’s about time we started to exercise our powers of voting the right people into office. UNIP will take over from UPND in my opinion.
UPND is not equal to Tonga. I’m Lunda by tribe and will remain UPND. To me, membership to the UPND is political as much as it is emotional— it is my only means to fight the marginalization that I have suffered because of my tribe. The UPND is my only democratic platform for redress.
UPND keeps welcoming Zambians into the party literally everday. So how can PF welcoming Kakoma and Belemu be a big day sure?
The sad REALITY is that PF inherited a fairly decent economy from the MMD where most economic indicators were in positive with mild challenges. When they started peddling the more money in your pockets in 90 days, people took them seriously and voted for them. Now that everything is in negative and was in negative even before covid came, most non partisan, analytical and objective Zambians like me are not really sure why they want to be on the ballot again. To come and do what if one may ask.
If PF is as popular as it claims to be, why is it using ZNBC exclusively to themselves, and where is IBA in all this. Why is nobody talking about this serious omission in what is called a democracy were other very entitled parties to be on an institution run by tax payers money are excluded
Telling HH and UPND to stop tribalism is like telling a monkey to stop scratching. Tribalism, HH and UPND is DNA. How many none tongas have survived for long in UPND top leadership.
Those asking about ZNBC been used by the ruling party are not normal. This question is like asking why your father can do what he wants and no one should question him. Those are the previlages of being a ruling party. Even MMD did the same, work your way up.
Sense!
It’s like at that point when truth hurts.
Like it or not. This has been like a hammer head on the nail and right into the target timber.
Well put Sunday.