Maravi

Chitimukulu is being used because of poverty, charges chief Chimbuka

Chitimukulu is being used because of poverty, charges chief Chimbuka
Written by Patson Chilemba in Kasama
Saturday, October 10, 2009 4:29:24 PM

CHIEF Chimbuka of the Bemba people of Chinsali has charged that Paramount chief Chitimukulu and other chiefs in Northern Province are being ruled by those in power because of poverty.

And chief Chimbuka said former president Frederick Chiluba is a finished politician and those in MMD are cheating themselves to think that he would win them popularity. In an interview, chief Chimbuka said Northern Province had a problem where chiefs, including Chitimukulu were being ruled by those in the government.

“They are not the ones ruling, they are being ruled because of poverty. They want to kneel to those in politics so that they could be given something to buy soap. But those chiefs forget about the people they rule to say ‘have the people we keep eaten?’ All the chiefs, including Chitimukulu, including the sub-chiefs, it’s all the same. Isabi nga lyalibola kumutwe ninshi nakuchipepe kwine lyalibola [if the head of the fish is rotten, it means the whole body is rotten],” chief Chimbuka said. “Please, we are asking you Chitimukulu, don’t be ruled, you must rule. Chiefs are not ruled, they rule. [Chief] Mwamba tulekulomba, wilatekwa, uleteka [chief Mwamba, we are asking you, don’t be ruled. You must rule].”

Chief Chimbuka said he had come to discover that although both Chitimukulu and Mwata Kazembe were chiefs of the Bemba-speaking people, the latter was more respected by the government than the former.

“Whatever Mwata says ba kateka balomfwa [whatever Mwata says, those in authority listen]. Don’t think when you [Chitimukulu] say ‘I don’t want this’, they will get the chieftaincy from you. Even when they give you K50,000 million or K200 billion, put it in your pocket. That is offering, just eat,” chief Chimbuka said. “Don’t say ‘if I criticise them, they won’t give me’. You are just wasting your time. Even when you don’t ask them, they will give you. That is offering.”

And chief Chimbuka said there was a deliberate attempt by Chiluba, with the help of President Rupiah Banda and his colleagues, to create division between the people of Northern Province and those from Luapula.

He said enemies should not be allowed to separate the people from the two provinces.

“The time [Mwansa] Kapwepwe formed UPP, Kenneth Kaunda used Luapula people to stand against Northerners to say that Kapwepwe said that ‘nimwe batubulu, munyela mumenshi [you are professional fishermen who defecate in water]’, to reduce the power of Bemba-speaking people,” chief Chimbuka said. “This is the same tactic which has been used to try and show that Northerners hate the people of Luapula, and yet this is not the case. Chiluba and Rupiah Banda are the ones who are doing this. They think if they bring Chiluba, he will give them popularity. They don’t know that Chiluba will create problems in this same party, Luapula and Northern people are one.”

Chief Chimbuka said Chiluba was wasting his time to think that he would guarantee popularity to the MMD while government returned him the favour to stop corruption prosecutions against him.

“He can’t win popularity for MMD. Chiluba is finished. He is finished. Even Kaunda was more powerful than Chiluba, but Kaunda is finished today, but we still give him more respect than anybody else,” said chief Chimbuka. “Don’t allow Chiluba to cheat you. Chiluba should not cheat you. He doesn’t even have a village.”

After the interview, chief Chimbuka took part in addressing a PF rally in Kasama’s Mponda village to drum up support for party candidate Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, commonly known as GBM.

Chief Chimbuka said girls were no longer getting pregnant because of hunger.

“No one can impregnant another person when they are hungry,” said chief Chimbuka.

At the same rally, PF leader Michael Sata said after he addressed a rally at chief Misengo’s palace, the MMD went to bribe the chief with K16 million.

“They have seen that the league has become tough for them. That is why they have resorted to bribing chiefs,” Sata said. “Edward Mumbi [former PF secretary general] is here to pay back for the Mercedes Benz that MMD bought him during last year’s presidential elections.”

Sata asked Kasama electorate to sleep outside the polling stations on the eve of voting and wait for the results to be announced in order to stop the MMD’s rigging.

He said there was nothing the MMD had done in terms of improving people’s living standards for them to remain in power.

Sata said he left MMD when he still held a very senior position in the party because he realised that MMD was destroying the country.

Sata said he understood MMD better than MMD deputy national secretary Jeff Kaande and MMD member Edward Mumbi.

Labels: CHIEF CHITIMUKULU, CHIEFS, CHILUBA, MMD

posted by MrK @ 3:29 PM