DON’T RELY ON TRIBALISM
…It’s wrong to use tribe to stay longer in power – Katele
By Mast Reporter
THERE’S nothing wrong with identifying oneself with their tribe, but it is very wrong for a government to use tribalism and regionalism to stay longer in power, veteran politician Dr Katele Kalumba has said.
Dr Kalumba, a former minister of finance in the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) administration, said in an interview with The Mast although tribalism had existed in Zambia even before the country attained independence, it had become more open after the country’s reversion to multiparty politics.
He said the vice was more evident and divisive today than ever because those in government were using it to sideline other tribes and regions in order to stay longer in power, which he condemned as primitive.
“They want to stay in power. What is new is saying ‘now our person is in office’. Equally, every president that wants to stay longer than the term of office is prescribed by the Constitution [and not by tribe or region],” Dr Kalumba said.
“Tribalism, regionalism won’t go away. No, but what is dangerous and what is problematic is to use it as a basis of securing privilege out of the public purse.”
He said it was unfortunate that some members of Parliament (MPs) had been supporting the enactment of bad laws on the basis of tribe and region.
“If somebody is gagging us, stopping us from talking, why should you go in Parliament and approve that? What is wrong with you? You go to Parliament to talk and then you go to Parliament to gag yourself?” Dr Kalumba wondered.
He said the seed of tribalism was planted, nurtured and funded by colonial masters by giving some tribes and regions preferential treatment in the distribution of resources and provision of social services while marginalising others.
“Some tribes got preference for education. Others were left behind. Now we’re saying this is not new. I’ve said if you go to my Facebook page, Bemba tribalism. When Bembas come to power, there’s tribalism, when Easterners come to power, there’s tribalism, when Southerners come to power there’s tribalism,” Dr Kalumba said.
He said there was tribalism among the losers even during [Dr Kenneth] Kaunda’s time, citing 1968 when late former freedom fighter Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe stood for the position of vice president.
There were serious tribal divisions then which are still haunting the country.
“If you remember, in 1968 when Kapwepwe was running as vice president, I think somewhere around there, there was tribalism. There’s tribalism in North-western Province,” Dr Kalumba said.
“The Lundas and the Luvales cannot see eye to eye. There’s the Chewas and the Ngonis who cannot see eye to eye. But at the base of it, as Zambians, because there was no Zambia before 1964, the whites entrenched these and linked it to superior distribution of resources, including education, for example.”
He appealed to Zambians to respect and derive political power from the country’s Constitution instead of tribe and region.
Dr Kalumba described tribalism as a tendency to define one’s own kind as being privileged.
“That is what is not needed. What is wrong is defining when you are in power or you have access to power that ‘only my people should have access to the distribution of material resources, or even power itself’. That is wrong,” he said.
“Tribal identity is not a problem. Being a Tonga, being a Bemba, being a Chewa, being a Tumbuka, being a Nsenga, being a Bwile, being a Shila, or Luvale, or Lenje, there’s nothing wrong.”
