Maravi

Those who practise tribalism have their brains gone wild – KK

Those who practise tribalism have their brains gone wild – KK
Written by Ernest Chanda and Masuzyo Chakwe
Monday, October 19, 2009 7:18:24 AM

DR Kenneth Kaunda has said those who practise tribalism have their brains gone wild. Dr Kaunda said there was no need to practise tribalism when all people were made in God's image. He said if the UNIP government had ruled through tribalism, Zambia would not have achieved the unity that has prevailed to this day.

“When we undertook to unite God's people in Zambia, bringing together 72 tribes, it was not easy. But because we were guided by the forces of love we managed to unite our country. The moment you find somebody pointing a finger at somebody, 'ah he is that tribe, she is this tribe', know that their brain has gone wild. Because the God who made you, also made him, made her, why do you point a finger at your friends? Once you say 'you are stupid because you are this tribe,' three fingers are saying 'you are three fingers more stupid than him because you are not accepting that he too was made by God,'" Dr Kaunda said during the commemoration of UNIP's 50 years of existence as a political party at Lusaka's Pamodzi Hotel last Saturday.

"That's why we thank God. I'm not saying we are proud of it, but we thank God that in Zambia we have not suffered tribal wars during our time since our independence; we thank God for this. Ever since we became independent we have become men and women of peace, let this continue. We differ politically, we differ over this and that, but we are all God's children."

Dr Kaunda said no one should demean the achievement that the UNIP government made of uniting Zambia.

"We should remember to thank God who is with us that He made it possible for all of us to remember to come together and do what is being done today. The forces of love are above everything else artificial. The forces of love are not artificial forces, they are real forces. To get all our people in different tribes to come together, work together and build One Zambia One Nation was not an achievement that must be looked down upon. It was an achievement through God's creation," Dr Kaunda said.

He justified the one party state system, saying the country had a lot of enemies at the time.

"Yes, we agreed in the end we are going to be multiparty. But those days we could not do that because the forces of our enemies were very powerful. The feelings of tribalism in the nation were terrible, terrifying. We had to come together through these forces, which we used as United National Independence Party. Now time has come for us to come together, look at each other, not through the forces of hatred; the forces of tribalism, the forces of racism, the forces of his religion [pointing at one of the delegates]. You are Christian, no good; you are Moslem, no good; you are Judah, no good; that's not correct, all of us are God's children," he said.

Dr Kaunda asked Zambians to thank God that the country had never experienced tribal wars since independence.

"We thank God that in Zambia there have been no tribal wars at all. In Zambia we have stood together; people of different tribes, people of different colours, people of different faces have come together to accept God's creation. He, she, all of us were made by God. All of us were made in His image. So the teaching goes that way: love God your creator with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. That is how you love God your creator, with all the force that you have. You use them all, you bring them together and love Him. What about the human being that He made in His own image?" Dr Kaunda asked. "The teaching is that God is God of love. He says, love your neighbour as you love yourself. What does it mean? Put it in another way, it means do unto others as you would like them do unto you. If you follow these teachings, how do you quarrel? How do you love your neighbour? Do you love him by going to steal from him? No! Do you love him by going to steal his wife? Do you love her by going to steal her husband? Do you love him by going to steal [from] his shop? If you don't wish that thing to happen to you, don't wish it on another man or woman."

But UNIP national revival forum secretary Mulenga Mwiche said holding of the celebration last Saturday was illogical and immoral in view of the leadership crisis.

Mwiche said the resources that were invested in such a lavish facility should have gone to reconciling the faction groups in the party.

He said it was immoral and illogical because a normal parent could not have a birthday celebration of a sick child who was under intensive care.

“Our members must stop believing that Dr Kaunda is the father of UNIP and UNIP is Kaunda. Dr Kaunda himself should not be an object and therefore making UNIP a shadow. Poor leadership of the party had made it perform poorly on all elections. We demand that Dr Kaunda release the party to its members. He has held UNIP hostage for far too long a time,” he said.

“Our sister parties such as Chama Chama Pinduzi in Tanzania are not shadows of their former leaders. Chama Chama Pinduzi is not a shadow of Nyerere, ANC is not a shadow of Nelson Mandela, name them. Dr Kaunda needs to justify his involvement in the party leadership crisis. Recently, he led an illegal gathering of the party to change the name of the party until people protested.”

Mwiche said Dr Kaunda used his grandchild to introduce the cooperative concept to the party like there were no leaders at will to do that.

He said Dr Kaunda and his son Tilyenji made innocent members to believe that the delay to hold the convention at an appropriate time by coinciding it with the 50th anniversary was good but had proved wrong.

“So we demand that Dr Kaunda must explain why he is always involved in cheating the nation and general membership about party events. He should do the same like what he did to the late Kebby Musokotwane, late Francis Nkoma when in his own judgment, those two were misleading the party and came in. Why has he failed to remove his own son who has even done worse things?” asked Mwiche.

Labels: KENNETH KAUNDA, TRIBALISM

posted by MrK @ 6:19 AM