Tribal campaigns
Tribal campaignsBy Editor
Sunday September 14, 2008 [04:00]
Vice-president Rupiah Banda, who is the ruling MMD presidential candidate in the October 30 elections, on Friday told the people of Eastern Province that he expects the highest number of votes from them to offset the deficits that he might have in other provinces.
Rupiah, who hails from the Eastern Province of our country, asked the people of this province to vote for him because he was their own son. “The other candidates, tell them to return where they come from,” Rupiah said, among other things. He thanked the people of Eastern Province for having “created” him.
“I am from you; I have my late mother here, my grandparents here, my brothers, my children, my grandchildren. I look round here, I almost know everyone, am very proud of that…” said Rupiah.
This was, in part, the campaign message of Rupiah to the people of Eastern Province on Friday. This was the message of the Vice-President of the Republic of Zambia, who has now assumed and he is exercising some of the functions of the Office of the President of the Republic of Zambia.
What message is Rupiah sending to the rest of the country? What interpretation can be given to this message?
This message may be understood to encourage tribalism and regionalism.
What would happen if Michael Sata also did the same and went to the Bemba-speaking regions of our country and told them what Rupiah told the people of Eastern Province?
What would happen if Hakainde Hichilema did the same and went to the Tonga-speaking regions of our country and told them what Rupiah told the people of Eastern Province?
We are lucky the Bemba-speaking people have not abused their over 43 per cent to vote in a regional or tribal manner.
In the 2006 elections, Sata did not do that well in the provinces that can be said to be near 100 per cent Bemba speaking – Northern and Luapula provinces. And neither did Simon Kapwepwe in his days. Kapwepwe’s UPP did not sweep Northern and Luapula provinces as was expected.
This is the way things should be. This is the approach to politics that shouldn’t be altered. Let the Bemba-speaking people vote for the best national candidate, as they have always done, and not necessarily the so-called ‘their own son.’ And we hope the people of Eastern Province will do the same.
It is embarrassing to have a situation where a candidate who has performed well in most parts of the country loses in one region to a candidate who hails from that region. In this regard, we want to see a change in the pattern of voting in Southern Province from that of simply voting for a Tonga speaking person.
This encourages regionalism, tribalism. If the people of Southern Province can only vote for a Tonga, why should they expect others not to do the same? If the people of Eastern Province can only vote for somebody who hails from there, why should they expect others not to do the same? And what happens if all behave the same?
This is the type of bankrupt politics Rupiah is trying to encourage in our country. This is the regionalism and tribalism Rupiah is trying to inculcate in our people of Eastern Province. This must be denounced and deserves to be denounced.
And this nonsense of tribalism, regionalism is coming from a person who last week was telling the nation that this campaign should be about issues and not personalities. Is Rupiah telling the people of Eastern Province to vote for him because he comes from there a developmental issue?
Is this the type of issue Rupiah considers important to be brought and discussed in this campaign? This should speak volumes about the character and personality of Rupiah. And probably this is why he doesn’t want issues of character and personality to be discussed because his deficiencies are glaring on this score.
Rupiah has started this whole issue of the importance of where one comes from but tomorrow when it becomes a hot issue, he will disown it and try to put the blame on us when it is he himself who has brought it on the list of campaign issues.
It is not us who have brought this issue on the agenda; it is Rupiah himself who has made regionalism and tribalism an issue in this campaign. We hope he won’t claim that he was misquoted as it usually happens with politicians when they are caught wrong-footed!
We should seriously guard against the danger of regionalism, tribalism as we head into this potentially divisive presidential election.
There is need for all our politicians, especially those who are presidential candidates, to give up the pernicious habit of identifying only or too strongly with those who come from the same village, town, province or tribe as themselves; those who speak the same language and have the same culture and traditions as themselves.
All our politicians have a duty, a responsibility to bring up the next generation free from tribalism, regionalism and imbued with a national feeling.
There is need for all of us to clearly understand the dangers and harmfulness of such approaches to politics.
What our politicians need to explain to our people is that their experience of suffering in Chadiza, Kaputa, Mwense, Chavuma, Shangombo, Sinazeze, Luangwa is the same. All bear the same scars, all have known the same hunger, the same poverty, the same suffering. And they should be united by the discovery of the same wounds and scars. Regionalism and tribalism have been weighed and found wanting.
The mission of all our politics should be underpinned by the dedication of our politicians to uplifting the most downtrodden sections of our population and all-round transformation of our society.
What our people have achieved when they are all united must not just now be lost in suspicion, distrust, selfishness and politics anchored on regionalism and tribalism.
No section of our community can be said to have all the virtues, and neither can any be said to have all the vices.
Let those who aspire to lead us teach themselves and others that politics should be an expression of a desire to contribute to the happiness of the community, rather than of a need to divide, cheat or rape the community.
Let them also teach themselves and others that politics cannot be only the art of the possible, especially if this means the art of speculation, calculation, intrigue, secret deals, and pragmatic manoeuvering, but that it can even be the art of the impossible, namely, the art of improving ourselves.
In life, it is very important to be clear about things. If our people are encouraged to vote on regional or tribal lines, to vote for the so-called their own, their sons, the unity and democracy of this country would be greatly threatened. It is important to understand the demography of this country.
The people of Eastern Province, the Nyanja-speaking people of this country are a force, but they constitute only a small force of just over 18 per cent. The Tonga-speaking people of this country are a force, but they only constitute a small force of just over 17 per cent. The Lozi-speaking people are also a force, but of just over eight per cent. And so are the people of North Western Province who constitute a force of just over six per cent.
The Bemba-speaking people constitute a force of not less than 43 per cent. But this is also still a small force, just one force. What our country needs is a collective force of all our people with all their diversities and complexities. One force alone, no matter how much strong we may think it is, is not enough to push this country forward.
But looking at this demography, it is difficult to understand how Rupiah can expect to win the presidency of this country by sweeping Eastern Province to compensate for the low performance or shortfall in other regions. What is going to happen if Sata also gets the 100 per cent vote, that is over 43 per cent, of the Bemba-speaking people and Hakainde gets 100 per cent of the Tonga-speaking vote of over 17 per cent?
If regional voting is encouraged and entrenched in our politics, if wako ni wako becomes the norm, then those who will be able to marshal the over 43 per cent Bemba-speaking vote will rule this country forever.
Is this desirable? The answer is a categorical No.
Rupiah is courting danger. In his desperation to win the presidency at all costs, Rupiah may perish in it and endanger the unity of this country.
None of our politicians, none of our candidates should be allowed to play around in any small way with tribal or regional politics. Let them treat all the people of this country as their own.
Rupiah is not a son of Eastern Province, he does not belong to Eastern Province but to Zambia. And he should avoid at all costs this type of politics. This shouldn’t be tolerated in any of our presidential candidates.
It will not do one any good to win the presidency of this country at the expense of causing serious destruction to our unity and our future. This reminds us of the observations made by Lenin after the triumph of the October 1917 Russian Revolution.
When the fighting and killing ended, Lenin made this amazing statement: “Without doubt, the oppressed multitude had to be freed. But the method we used to free them only triggered more oppression and bloody massacres.
The nightmare I now live with is to find myself in an ocean red with the blood of countless victims. We can’t change the past now, but what we truly needed to change Russia was ten saints like Francis of Assisi.”
How could ten saints change Russia?
This is a very sensitive issue we are trying to tackle. But there is need always to be ready to stand up for the truth. We say this because truth is in the interest of the people.
However, we also know that standing up for the truth, for what is right, just, fair is not always a popular undertaking.
We encourage our people to oppose and denounce any moves by our politicians that appear to encourage tribalism or regionalism because this type of politics has never succeeded anywhere and has never brought any prosperity to any country or nation.
Labels: MMD, POLITICS, RUPIAH BANDA, TRIBALISM
posted by MrK @ 4:09 AM
1 Comments:
Tribal politics is bad. Bemba tribal politics has been practised by politicians for a long time now, however it has not been that appealing to the Bemba speakers. One thing to correct from the statistical error by the post is that Bemba tribalism targets people who consider themselves Bemba or are closely aligned to the Bemba tribe and these are only a fraction of Bemba speakers. To claim that this consitutes 43% is an error. A lot of people-Tongas, Chewas, Kaondes, Lundas are Bemba speaking hence the big percent. Such people will definately not align themselves with a purely Bemba tribal agenda.
The Chewa, Ngoni and Tumbuka will give Banda a block vote, afterall MMD gained a foothold there in the last election. Thats the beauty of Zambian politics. Tongas have done it before. Lozis and North Westerners should also have a block vote else they will be a minor constituency.
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