Maravi

Chief Chimese explains differences with Kalaba

Chief Chimese explains differences with Kalaba
By Fridah Nkonde
Fri 13 July 2012, 13:59 CAT

CHIEF Chimese of Mansa district says he does not want to be dragged into politics by Bahati PF member of parliament Harry Kalaba as his call for reconciliation with the latter was for the sake of development.

And Kalaba says he, too, does not want to politicise the differences he has with chief Chimese and that he would rather let the traditional ruler be the last person to speak on the issue.

Chief Chimese said the differences between himself and Kalaba were not political but personal and that he was only interested in development for the people of his chiefdom.

He was reacting to Kalaba's statement on Wednesday that the traditional leader should apologise to the people in the constituency for having humiliated PF supporters before last year's elections.

Kalaba's statement came after chief Chimese asked Luapula Province permanent secretary Annie Mwitwa to help in reconciling him with the Bahati member of parliament.

"All I want is to work with the elected leaders, including Harry, who is my son. I am insisting that we reconcile because Harry's father was my brother.

There was a succession dispute in the chiefdom over who should take over the chieftainship between me and Harry's father," chief Chimese said. "I took the matter to court, and the court ruled in my favour. He appealed to the Supreme Court, the ruling was again in my favour.

All that time, Harry's father had already taken up the chieftainship. It is unfortunate that Harry's father died just before last year's elections."
He said he only ascended to the throne this year after being recognised by the government.

Chief Chimese said he did not understand why Kalaba said he needed to apologise to the people in the constituency for having humiliated PF supporters before last year's elections because he was not chief at the time.
And chief Chimese said he had given the council a piece of land on which to develop.

"I have also given the police a piece of land on which to build houses…This is all because of my commitment to the development of my chiefdom and the province. I am actually happy that my son, Harry is an MP that is why I want to work with him for development purposes," said chief Chimese.

Meanwhile, Kalaba said he did not want to respond further to chief Chimese's statement, saying whatever he had said earlier was enough.

"The best people to talk over my differences with my uncle, chief Chimese, are chief Chisuka and senior chief Milambo. I do not want to go on and on, on this issue and I do not intend to politicise it because chief Chimese is my uncle," said Kalaba.

Labels: CHIEFS

posted by MrK @ 2:08 PM