Maravi

Mufumbwe rejected tribalism - Kabimba

Mufumbwe rejected tribalism - Kabimba
By Ernest Chanda in Kasama
Mon 12 Nov. 2012, 14:00 CAT

WYNTER Kabimba says he has no ambitions of becoming Republican President. And Kabimba says the Patriotic Front's victory in the Mufumbwe parliamentary by-election is a rejection of tribalism and regionalism propagated by the opposition during campaigns.

During a special interview with Radio Mano in Kasama on Saturday, Kabimba, the PF secretary general and justice minister, revealed that he was comfortable with his current position of serving under President Michael Sata and had no ambition of becoming head of state.
He also refuted assertions that there is a power struggle within the party structures.

Kabimba, however, said there were a few individuals planning to hijack the party from outside, according to Radio Phoenix.

He said the outsiders trying to destabilise the party may be getting support from some members of PF in a bid to bring confusion in the ruling party.

Kabimba also assured that the party structures in Northern Province were intact contrary to perceptions stating otherwise.

And in an interview on the ruling party's victory in the Mufumbwe by-election, Kabimba said Mufumbwe residents had broken tribal barriers promoted by the MMD and its ally UPND.

Stephen Masumba, who lost the Mufumbwe seat after being expelled by his former party, the MMD, regained it on Thursday on the PF ticket.

"This is a landmark victory for us. What we are doing as a party is to reunite this country, to break down the poralisation…because this country is a unitary state; this country is one. What the people of Mufumbwe have done is to reject the Sunday sermons that come from political party leaders from the opposition that want to balkanise this country and segment it into tribal enclaves," he said in an interview.

"They have said no to that kind of preaching, 'we don't want an enclave we are part of Zambia. We are not Luvales, we're not Chokwes, we're not Kaondes, we are just Zambians. And therefore we are going to support the Patriotic Front with its national programmes'. That's the message that's coming from Mufumbwe."

Kabimba said for a long time, opposition parties had planted seeds of tribalism in their campaigns.

"'You know you Luvales, you know you Chokwes, you know you Kaondes they've given you a Kaonde candidate, what about you the Chokwe, how is he going to serve you?' And that has been the foundation of their existence as opposition political parties. We have broken down those barriers as PF," he said.

"The message that we took to Mufumbwe was not about segmenting that province. The message that we took to Mufumbwe was one of inclusive development for all the districts of North Western Province, for all the tribes that are in North Western Province. None of us chose to be their tribe. We found these tribes; they were allocated to us by God. So, the basis of judging another human being cannot be the tribe. And no human being is good or bad on the basis of their tribe."

And Kabimba praised traditional leaders in North Western Province for showing national leadership in the by-election. He said the traditional leaders sensitised their people on the dangers of tribalism.

"They spoke to their people that this is not about tribe; it's about the province and this is about the nation. My appeal is that the rest of the provinces should follow the Mufumbwe example," said Kabimba. "I'm calling upon my people from Southern Province to follow the Mufumbwe example because that is what is going to bring about development to Southern Province, that's what is going to bring about development to this nation."

Labels: MUFUMBWE, TRIBALISM, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 4:23 PM