Maravi

Unwell Rupiah fails to address cadres

Unwell Rupiah fails to address cadres
Written by Chibaula Silwamba and Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Thursday, July 09, 2009 5:37:30 PM

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda is sick, MMD Southern Province chairperson Solomon Muzyamba announced yesterday. And Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday described the Zambian President as "my Rupiah Banda."

Just before President Banda's departure at Livingstone International Airport, as Muzyamba was about to call upon him to address the people that gathered to see him off, President Banda called Muzyamba and quietly spoke to him.

After that, Muzyamba told the gathering that President Banda was not feeling too well.

"Good morning everybody, His Excellency is not feeling too well, he would want to leave. So he will not say anything besides bidding farewell," announced Muzyamba, as President Banda nodded his head. "It's very good he has shared with us the last four days."

Earlier, upon arrival at the airport, President Banda had an impromptu conversation for over five minutes with MMD spokesperson and local government minister Benny Tetamashimba, communications minister Professor Geoffrey Lungwangwa, tourism minister Catherine Namugala, Southern Province minister Daniel Munkombwe, special advisor to the President Akashambatwa Mbikusita Lewanika and Zambia's Ambassador to Zimbabwe Dr Sipula Kabanje.

Tetamashimba was prominently explaining something while President Banda and others were nodding their heads in agreement but what they were discussing was not audible.

Efforts to get an interview with Tetamashimba over defence minister George Mpombo's resignation, proved futile as he angrily declined.

"Why should I talk to you? I can't waste my time on you because those people [ZAF plane] are waiting for me," said Tetamashimba. "I can't waste my time on you...to give you an interview. Don't waste my time. Just go back!"

And officiating at the Lwiindi lo Kuzyola Mukuni Ng'ombe traditional ceremony of the Toka Leya people of Livingstone and Kazungula districts on Tuesday, President Mugabe thanked President Banda for inviting him, on behalf of chief Mukuni, to the traditional ceremony.

"Your Excellency President Rupiah Banda, and my Rupiah Banda," said President Mugabe in the preamble of his speech as people in the VIP tent burst into laughter.

"This is my first visit to this place and therefore a novice and the novices do not always know what to say. But at least there is one thing that has struck me; it is the fact that here is a chief who trekked from Congo to this place sometime ago and by his own initiatives he educated himself and now uses that education and his initiative to establish a place of this nature."

He said if all chiefs were innovative like chief Mukuni, it would be easier for governments to develop their countries.

"Not only has he made this centre of and for tradition, where annually people assemble here from various parts of the country, he has also made it a tourist centre and tourism is not just a matter of building a place and decorating it with ornaments here and there and inviting people to come and admire the ornaments or the beauty of the place. It is indeed to do that for business. So there is that aspect also to use tourism to earn income," he said.

President Mugabe said chief Mukuni was using tourism to bring development to his community and his people.

"He is not a minister, he is not a member of parliament, he is a chief and chiefs are not known in various parts of our country to have this amount of initiatives," President Mugabe observed.

"Surely there are not many chiefs of this calibre and I want to say to chief Mukuni, well done. You are not just a chief and I think I would want to regard you as a chief of chiefs."

He urged other traditional leaders and politicians to learn from developmental initiatives that chief Mukuni had embarked on.

"If you want to know what to do for your people and how to do it, if you want to know how to unite the people and interact with other chiefs, other communities, if you want to know how to cooperate with governments, go to chief Mukuni across the [Zambezi] river there. He has actually written a book on how chiefs should work, how chiefs and their communities should interact, how chiefs and other chiefs should communicate and of course how chiefs and their government should cooperate," President Mugabe said.

"The initiative itself here that has seen this place transformed that is the wonder. How many of us are capable of doing it? If all chiefs were able to do this in their various areas, development would be much easier for governments."

President Mugabe said he did not know anything about chief Mukuni until President Banda telephoned him to forward the chief's request for elephants from Zimbabwe to be used for tourism purposes at his shrine in Livingstone.

"When President Rupiah Banda talked to me over the phone and I think he was in Livingstone here, he said he has been requested by chief Mukuni to submit a further request to me for some elephants to be, I take it, loaned to him or given to him by us from our side of wildlife so that they can be here at this centre and for purposes of tourism," President Mugabe said.

"I then went into the matter and I asked my minister of environment and tourism whether he knew anything about chief Mukuni and I think he has had some contacts from him and he said yes, he did. And I said, 'well there is the matter, if you discussed with him, you are the best person to handle this case.'"

He said subsequently during President Banda's recent state visit to Zimbabwe, the Zambian leader introduced chief Mukuni to him.

"He [chief Mukuni] talked to and he mentioned something about the elephants and I referred him to my minister. So the two met and spoke about the elephants, I think the problem about elephants has been settled between them but I don't see elephants here," President Mugabe said.

"Upon my arrival at this centre, I expected to see one or two of the elephants but perhaps they are yet to be introduced to the scene."

President Mugabe said Zambia and Zimbabwe were Siamese twins.

"The [Zambezi] river is just an artificial division. But we are one people," said President Mugabe.

And President Banda said President Mugabe was a role model for him and other true Africans who fought for independence.

President Banda said enemies of President Mugabe had failed to break the Zimbabwean leader.

"May I take this opportunity to say a few words about President Mugabe; President Mugabe is not only a role model for my colleague the minister for this province, he is a role model to all true Africans, Africans who fought for the independence of this country, Africans who cherished the African nationalism and that Africa must develop itself using the talent that is in its people," President Banda said.

"President Mugabe is such a person that everyone of us know, lesser men would not be standing where he is now. They would have been broken by the intrigues of his enemies and I am very proud that he is my guest and he accepted to come today in order to be our main visitor.

"I have no speech today as I have one of the most distinguished sons of Africa as my guest at this ceremony and I would like to give him an opportunity to speak to you."

President Banda said chief Mukuni was a selfless leader.

"It [Lwiindi lo Kuzyola Mukuni Ng'ombe ceremony] is the uniting factor to our Zambian people. It is uniting us with our neighbouring countries," said President Banda.

"You [Mukuni] you are a great example of a leader who leads by example, a leader who works hard and a leader who is selfless and does everything for his people. This is one of our areas in Zambia which will produce some of the most educated Zambians."

Meanwhile, senior chief Mukuni of the Toka Leya people, through his representative Malumo Siaga, asked the government to divide Southern Province into two provinces - the plateau and the valley area.

"Our humble request to the government is that when the colonial government created regions the sharing of the cake between the people of the valley and plateau was not fair. We request you to divide the province into two parts from Livingstone to Choma being one and the other from Choma so that it is easier to administer. We, however, do not want to secede from the province," said chief Mukuni.

"We are people who believe in self reliance through the Mukuni Development Trust."

Sources here have indicated that chief Mukuni and chief Moonze of the Tonga are competing to be declared paramount chief in Southern Province, which has no paramount chief at the moment.

On Monday, chief Moonze requested President Banda's government to recognize him as paramount chief.

Labels: CEREMONIES, LWIINDI, MUGABE, RUPIAH BANDA, SOLOMON MUZYAMBA

posted by MrK @ 4:39 PM