Maravi

Chiefs have become party cadres – Chief Mwamba

Chiefs have become party cadres – Chief Mwamba
By Moses Kuwema
Mon 23 Aug. 2010, 03:00 CAT

SENIOR chief Mwamba of the Bemba speaking people in Kasama has observed that chiefs in the country have become party cadres. In an interview, chief Mwamba said most chiefs had become absorbed into the conventional party machinery and surrendered their power of decisions to politicians who dictate what they pronounce.

He said as cadres, the chiefs had swallowed the bait that had been strategized by politicians in order for them to dig their own graves.

“This simply means that the institution of chiefs lacks a practical value for its existence and therefore slowly heading for the museum of cultural history. We seem not to be aware that times are changing and we should be able to prove to future generations why the institution of chiefs should continue to exist and draw money from the public treasury,” said chief Mwamba.

He said chiefs were again facing the same old problems which had been resuscitated by politicians who have created a dangerous ‘gambit’ wherein chiefs had been persuaded to engage in cheap party politics and hence being placed on a slippery ground.

Chief Mwamba said politicians had since independence only dealt with chiefs’ existence and fake big respect rather than their role in governance.

“They have isolated chiefs from the man of the future because chiefs have been systematically excluded from meaningful participation in socio-economic development of the country and consequently the role of chiefs in matters of national interest and development is not evenly defined,” he said.

Chief Mwamba said since 1991, politicians had been trying to find ways to dilute and eventually abolish traditional ruler-ship in the country in order to make it easier to alienate customary land and on the other hand pave a way for a strong working class that would be sociologically undefined, since there seems to be an uneasy balance between simple tribal affiliations and modernism.

“…And unfortunately the chiefs having failed to define the role and position of the institution of chiefs in the modern democratic society and to find the rightful place of traditional authority in democratic governance, we have, to our own undoing, opted to engage in cheap party politics of insults which does not even induce any sense of reality,” he said.

Chief Mwamba said it was imperative for chiefs who form a vital element in the rural societies and who play an important role in the matters affecting the rural populations to come out of their shells and open the horizons of the peasants’ minds to appreciate diversity of opinions and democracy.

Labels: CHIEFS, SR CHIEF MWAMBA KANYANTA MANGA II

posted by MrK @ 5:04 AM