Failures shouldn’t seek re-election - Fr Phiri
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Thu 27 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT
LEADERS who seek re-election but have failed to deliver should feel ashamed, says Fr Andrew Chenjerani Phiri. Fr Phiri, who is Chipata Diocese pastoral coordinator, said it was sad that Nyampande had been neglected in many areas.
“It’s bad that the government has not been represented here. I’m appealing to senior chief Kalindawalo to inform government that we are disappointed by the failure of government officials to come and celebrate with us during the blessing and the handover of the church. Tell them that they have offended us here in Nyamphande area,” said Fr Phiri during the handover of St Peters Catholic Church to the people of chief Nyamphande’s area in Petauke’s Msanzala constituency on Sunday.
“Very soon these people will come to ask for votes. Are these voters going to come from heaven? It’s you. If I was a chief I would have banned all the politicians from doing their campaigns in Nyamphande’s chiefdom.”
He said despite various campaign promises, Nyamphande area remained underdeveloped.
“Whether they do their campaigns here or not the people here will be as they were in the beginning, now and forever. The people you voted for who are not seen during developmental programmes and they come to only ask for votes again, how are they going to foster development this time around?” he said. “If there is any elected leader here who received a vote from my mother, my father and my grandparent but you didn’t show up for developmental programmes, you should feel ashamed with that vote. Look at this road Nyamphande. I think the two chiefs know that during Dr Kaunda’s time this road was being graded up to the tarmac.”
Fr Phiri said it was sad that the government had not put a bridge at Matonga but would be quick to ask for votes.
“If they politicians come to ask for votes from you I think you should inform me so that they could talk to me first. People do not just need spiritual development because a person cannot come and pray if he is sick, when he is hungry. We want we and the government to move together,” Fr Phiri said.
He said the people of Kapyela area were asking him to find well-wishers who could help build a hospital in the area.
“I know the people’s request is in the hands of the government and not me alone. When I get sick I go to Kalichero’s Mzeyi Mission Hospital in Chipata so that’s where I was. What about you? did your MP Msanzala MMD parliamentarian Peter Daka build a hospital for you? We are expecting government to build the hospital that people are looking for,” Fr Phiri said.
He asked chiefs Kalindawalo and Nyamphande to tell the government about the cries of the people in Petauke.
Fr Phiri was very instrumental in the construction of the church that was handed over to the local people by Diocesan Bishop George Lungu.
Bishop Lungu also announced that the newly appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese Fr Benjamin Phiri would be installed on April 9 at St Anne’s Cathedral in Chipata.
The handover ceremony was also attended by priests, nuns and brothers that hail from Petauke District.
Labels: CHIEF KALINDAWALO MNDIKULA
Read more...
‘Rupiah, Jacob Mwanza are plotting to replace Kalindawalo’
By Amos Malupenga
Fri 04 June 2010, 04:00 CAT
President Rupiah Banda and his close friend Jacob Mwanza have been accused of scheming to remove chief Kalindawalo Mundikula in Petauke and reinstate Mika, the former Kalindawalo.
And Lavu Mulimba, from the Sandwe Royal Establishment, has complained before the Delegated Legislation Committee of Parliament questioning the legality of the Statutory Instrument signed by President Banda in April this year recognising Shaderick Malamula Zulu as chief Sandwe of the Nsenga people in Petauke district.
Well-placed traditional sources in Eastern Province revealed yesterday that President Banda and his friend, former Bank of Zambia governor Jacob Mwanza, have teamed up to ensure that they deal with chiefs who might not be politically useful to the President.
“There is a background to this problem which is very well-known,” the source said. “You will recall that during the time of the late president Levy Mwanawasa, the House of Chiefs was tasked to investigate this matter. This investigation was done and one of the recommendations to president Mwanawasa was that Shaderick Malamula Zulu was not in line to succeed as chief Sandwe.”
However, the source said President Banda, early last year, appointed David Tembo as Clerk of the House of Chiefs with the motive to delink the traditional relationship between the Nsengas and the Chewas because he allegedly did not like senior chief Kalindawalo.
The source further said on April 30, 2010, President Banda signed a Statutory Instrument number 32 naming Shaderick Malamula Zulu as the new chief Sandwe of the Nsenga people of Lusangazi area in Petauke district. President Banda stated that he was satisfied that Zulu was entitled to hold the office of chief Sandwe.
“But I can tell you that the only person who satisfied President Banda is his friend Jacob Mwanza who has managed to satisfy him also in having his two nephews gazetted as chiefs Nyampande and Mumbi,” the source said. “President Banda is doing this in total disregard of the law.”
The source said Mwanawasa instituted a Commission of Inquiry under the chairmanship of chief Mumena, who was House of Chiefs chairman, that travelled to Petauke to inquire into the succession wrangles.
“The House of Chiefs recommended that Shadreck Malamula Zulu was not in line to succeed as chief Sandwe,” the source said, adding that senior chief Kalindawalo also made the same recommendation after Lusaka High Court judge Thomas Ndhlovu instructed him to call the Mbumbas (the chief’s sisters who select the his successor) to guide them.
“Paramount chief Kalonga Gawa Undi of the Chewa people, himself a matrilineal hereditary advised the government through the Ministry of Local Government and Housing on how to proceed and to leave traditional matters to traditional leaders,” the source said. “The then Lusaka High Court judge Gertrude Chawatama made similar pronouncements when she was petitioned by Shadreck Zulu. But now Rupiah Banda and Jacob Mwanza have resolved to remove Kalindawalo Mundikula and re-instate the former Mika Kalindawalo whom they regard a 2011 vote getter for President Banda in Petauke.”
The source said instructions have since been given to agriculture minister Peter Daka and education minister Dora Siliya, who are both Nsengas, to call for a Petauke chiefs’ meeting to resolve the removal of Kalindawalo Mundikula and recommend the reinstatement of Mika.
The source said the Lavu Mulimba family, as a result decided to petition the Speaker of the National Assembly Amusaa Mwanamwambwa, following President Banda’s signing of the Statutory Instrument number 32 of 2010 which was published in Government Gazette number 5874 Vol XLVI on April 30, 2010 and the arrangements that are underway to replace chief Kalindawalo.
And in his complaint letter addressed to the Delegated Legislation Committee chairperson Chifumu Banda dated May 20, 2010, Mulimba stated that the Statutory Instrument signed by President Banda on April 30 was ultra vires the constitution and chiefs Act, violated his family’s and personal traditional right to succeed the late chief Sandwe VII in accordance with Nsenga customary law governing succession.
Mulimba also stated that the Statutory Instrument further subjected his traditional succession right to administrative decisions made by Petauke district council secretary. He stated that inspite of the House of Chiefs being advised by his lawyers not to proceed to gazette either Zulu or Jaavani Ngulube as the Sandwe dispute was before court, President Banda proceeded to issue the Statutory Instrument in question.
“My prayer is that you call me as a witness to your meeting which will include the examination of the legality of Statutory Instrument in terms of your terms of reference as Parliament’s Committee on Delegated Legislation,” Mulimba stated. “A group of criminal-minded persons who have hijacked the gazetation process in the Sandwe case are in a hurry to hold the last ceremony Kuyanika to install Mr Shadreck Zulu as chief Sandwe. My appeal is that the examination of Statutory In Instrument be expedited by your committee to prevent further illegal acts being taken by Mr Zulu.”
Labels: CHIEF KALINDAWALO MNDIKULA, CHIEFS, JACOB MWANZA, LAVU MULIMBA, PETAUKE, RUPIAH BANDA, SHADRECK MALAMULA ZULU
Read more...
Govt should intervene in illegal sale of ECU assets – Kalindawalo
Written by Christopher Miti in Chipata
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 3:55:47 PM
SENIOR Chief Kalindawalo of the Nsenga people in Petauke has appealed to the minister of agriculture and co-operatives to intervene in the alleged illegal sale of the Eastern Corporative Union (ECU) assets in the district.
In an interview yesterday, Chief Kalindawalo said he was disturbed to learn that an ECU hammer mill and a large portion of land had been illegally sold in the district.
"I just learnt last week when I went to see the chairman of Petauke
District Corporative Union Mr Banda who confirmed to me that a hammer mill has been sold by some people from Chipata. Now I’m concerned because these assets were partly in my area and Chief Nyamphande's area," Chief Kalindawalo said.
He said the land and the hammermill were believed to have been sold to a Zambian based in Chipata.
"I think the minister of agriculture should intervene and seriously look into this matter. Why did these people sell the assets? I’m very much concerned about this issue," said Chief Kalindawalo.
And well-placed sources at the Eastern Province Agricultural office confirmed that the land in question and the hammermill were sold by former ECU board members in 1997.
"The issue at hand is that we have a new board of directors for ECU. The people who were there have been clinging on to the offices for some time now so the things that are happening are that the former board members have continued to do certain things, the case in point is that they have sold a building in the Show grounds in Chipata, then in Petauke. There is a very big plot belonging to the corporative now part of that plot, there was a very big hammermill machine, so they sold that," the source said.
The sources said the Petauke asset was sold at K14 million but the buyer only paid K7 million.
"Here in Chipata, they sold the building in December last year. These people (ECU former board members) had a credit of K17 million so they said the money we owe you, we give you the place in Show grounds together with the building then that person had to add an extra K10 million," the source said.
The source also said the Task Force on Corruption was currently investigating the sale of ECU assets in the province.
Labels: CHIEF KALINDAWALO MNDIKULA, CORRUPTION, EASTERN COOPERATIVE UNION, PETAUKE, TASK FORCE
Read more...
Hunger hits Petauke district
January 3, 2009
A traditional ruler in Petauke has said a number of people in the district are going out without food.
Senior chief Kalindawalo Mndikula chitete told ZANIS in an interview yesterday that most Petauke residents including his subjects, were hungry adding that the situation on the ground was bad.
The Senior chief said people were surviving on pumpkin leaves adding that the few with maize were managing on a meal per day.
He attributed the hunger situation in most parts of Petauke to last year’s uneven rain pattern.
He has since appealed to Government to come to the rescue of the people adding that the situation now was in the emergence stage.
Meanwhile Petauke district Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit committee ( PDDMMUC) has reported receipt of one hundred metric tones of maize to distribution as relief food.
Petauke district commissioner David Tembo, who is also the PDDMMUC chairman said the unit had received maize to add to the first consignment of hundred metric tones which had since been distributed to all three constituencies.
He said the latest consignment was to also be distributed to the three constituencies but bearing in mind those who did not benefit from the earlier consignment.
Last year the agriculture department in Petauke indicate that thirty percent of people in the district would be hit with hunger by the end of September 2008.
ZANIS/BM/EML/ENDS/MM
Labels: CHIEF KALINDAWALO MNDIKULA, GREAT DEPRESSION II, HUNGER, PETAUKE
Read more...
