Maravi

My wife has now grown – Banda

My wife has now grown – Banda
Written by Chibaula Silwamba and Christopher Miti in Chipata
Saturday, February 28, 2009 8:44:10 AM

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda yesterday remarked that his wife has now grown. And President Banda said it would be legendary to meet South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) party president Jacob Zumaat today's Nc'wala traditional ceremony of the Ngoni people of Eastern Province.

Addressing MMD cadres and Ngoni warriors who welcomed him at Chipata airport on arrival for the Nc’wala traditional ceremony, President Banda said he was growing younger while his wife was growing older.

"Nabwelanaye mwana wanu, mukadzi wanga, wakunyumba. Anyina wanu inde baba. Welanakuno bakuonenkoni patontho kuti baone kuti wakula lomba. Tusiyana; beve okulilako neo nuchepelako; tikakumane pakati.

[Translated: I have come with your child, my housewife. Your mother indeed. Come here madam so that they see that you have now grown up. We are different; she is growing older while I am growing younger; we will meet in the middle.]," said President Banda in local Chewa language.

As President Banda spoke about his wife, Thandiwe, people including his ministers and government senior officials burst into rapturous laughter. And President Banda said the MMD was not corrupt, adding that the party's critics were instead corrupt.

"I just want to say to my party members that please everybody wants to take over the power. They want to take it away from you; they use all kinds of excuses and rhetoric. They are saying this party is corrupt, koma ali corrupt niyeve mambala olabila. [They are saying MMD is corrupt but the one who is corrupt is the same crook who is talking]," he said. "So we have to watch out and to be careful with what we do. That is why yesterday I translated a Nsenga proverb which is: chikomela a galu kuluma mbuzi koma yomwe kuti ikateko ati iyai yanilumilanji? Lomba zulo ina azwatula. [Proverb: It's good for a dog to bite a goat but when the goat bites a dog, they say no it's wrong. So yesterday I bit them."

He warned that he would continue instilling discipline in MMD members.

"We want a party that is disciplined. I am prepared to rally behind its principles that we believe in. If you saw the meeting that took place at State House yesterday [Thursday], it feels very good that our party is still so strong even in Lusaka and everywhere," President Banda said.

President Banda praised MMD deputy national secretary Jeff Kaande for organising MMD cadres to march to State House on Thursday, where he [President Banda] sacked energy deputy minister Lameck Chibombamilimo and science deputy minister Jonas Shakafuswa.

And President Banda disclosed that he would today take Zuma around Chipata town so that people could see him before taking him to Mtenguleni for this year's Nc'wala traditional ceremony.

"Tomorrow [today] we will be receiving a very important son of our continent. You know that Jacob Zuma is one of the leaders of South Africa's Africa National Congress (ANC). We can say that the ANC is a political party that has been in existence for over 103 years. The ANC has been through all kinds of problems until they took over that country. We in Zambia can learn a lot from the ANC," he said. "So tomorrow you must come in our big numbers, I will take him to the centre of Chipata so that other people can have a chance to see him. It is legendary to see someone like him and I hope that many of our people here will turn up well to meet [him]...those who will not go to the ceremony. After that, I will take him to the Nc'wala ceremony where I am sure the Ngonis will just go crazy to see the roots of their tribe.

"He has retraced the steps that our forefathers [took] because I am on the middle, my father was a Chewa and my mother was a Ngoni like you old man here. You remember my mother."

President Banda said this was a wonderful occasion for him.

"So I look forward tomorrow to real enjoyment, to relax," he said. "I want to assure you that tomorrow's ceremony will be bigger and more enjoyable than any other one that has taken place because comrade Zuma is a great Ngoni dancer, I am sure he will demonstrate to us his machine gun, we shall see tomorrow, we are looking forward to it."

President Banda said Zulu dancers had already come to Chipata for the ceremony.

"So we will be able to see the origins of this dance and they too will be able to see what we the Ngoni people have kept since we came here many hundred years past. They will see that we are still there with our Ngoni culture," he said. "Where are my twins, they are now grown up. I don't know where they have gone. I have brought them so that you can see your children that they have grown up. They also want to see Nc'wala tomorrow."

He said Zuma would come with his son, daughter and three princesses of the King of Zulu people of South Africa.

"We shall enjoy tomorrow's ceremony," President Banda reiterated.

And Eastern Province minister Isaac Banda thanked President Banda for government's support to the people of Eastern Province during this rainy season through the Agriculture Support Programme.

"I wish to inform you that we worked hard and our fields are green and healthy in anticipation of a good harvest except for some parts in Chama and Lundazi where we experienced some long dry spells," Banda said.

However, Banda observed that there were gaps in the Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP) distribution process but those were administrative and were being sorted out.

"Consultants have been engaged to carryout a feasibility study for the re-designing a 300 kilometres of the Great East Road from Luangwa Bridge to Mwami border. So far, 38 million Euros is earmarked to be spent on this project," said Banda.

Eastern Province MMD chairperson Kennedy Zulu said the party would deal with anybody that would want to destabilise the party in the province.

"We the people in Eastern Province as your relatives, we thank national executive committee for appointing you as acting MMD party president until the 2010 convention. We have confidence that you will run the party well and we pray to God that he gives you intelligence to run the party. Mr President, Eastern Province is the stronghold of the MMD," he said. "We in Eastern Province, we will try with all our might to ensure that no one destabilises your popularity in Eastern Province. Whoever will come to destabilise this party here in Eastern Province, we will ‘work’ on them. You will just read in newspapers what will have happened here in Eastern Province."

At this point President Banda shouted, "How are you going to ‘work’ on them?"

Zulu responded: "We will deal with them politically, your Excellency."

Labels: NC'WALA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 8:44 AM