Maravi

Some govt leaders have no respect for traditional leaders - Chief Macha

Some govt leaders have no respect for traditional leaders - Chief Macha
By Charles Mangwato in Choma
Thu 11 Mar. 2010, 04:10 CAT

CHIEF Macha of the Tonga people yesterday said some government leaders have no respect for traditional leaders.

Speaking in Choma during an inception workshop on Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), chief Macha said it was disappointing that some government leaders had failed to accord the traditional leadership the respect they deserve.

Chief Macha said he had expected a high-ranking government official to have opened the workshop but was surprised that only a junior ministry officer had been delegated to officiate.

“Its like myself as chief, I invite you to my palace and I tell my headmen to address you. How would you feel?” he asked. “This is what the minister and the PS have done to us chiefs gathered here.”

The visibly annoyed chief said while 13 chiefs from Lusaka and Southern provinces had travelled to Choma to attend the workshop called by the Ministry of Local Government, it was shocking that the minister and permanent secretaries themselves were conspicuously absent.

Chief Macha said politicians only recognised the influence of chiefs when they were in trouble facing an election.

“Very soon it will be an election and you will see government leaders coming on their knees before the chief.

This culture is bad. Chiefs are more permanent than the political leadership which can be hired or fired by the appointing authority,” he said.

The workshop organised by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing in conjunction with UNICEF and other cooperating partners has brought together 13 chiefs from Lusaka and Southern provinces to officially launch CLTS as an official government programme after being piloted by UNICEF in the past years.

“Chiefs are more senior citizens who are seated here in the workshop… are more senior than the minister and the PS but they managed to spare time to attend the workshop,” he said.

Labels: CHIEF MACHA

posted by MrK @ 7:50 PM