TRIBALISM WILL KILL US
Can plunge Zambia into chaos if not stopped, says Siamunene
By Adrian Mwanza
TRIBALISM is wicked because it has the potential to plunge the country into chaos if left unchecked, New Focus Party (NFP) president Richwell Siamunene says.
In an interview with The Mast, Siamunene said tribalism needed to be nipped in the bud so that the country could move forward.
“Tribalism will plunge Zambia into chaos if we are not careful. We need to nip it in the bud. The tribal path the country is on is very dangerous and we need to address it now,” he said.
Siamunene said people should not look at individuals based on one’s tribe but the capabilities and contribution to national discourse.
He said it was important for Zambians to focus on the Bill of Rights, which supported and protected a person from any form of discrimination, except under a law that provided for affirmative action.
“The Bill of Rights is clear and states that a person shall not be discriminated against, except under a law that provides for affirmative action. And this is what we need to walk towards, unlike this tribalism we are seeing,” Siamunene said.
He said Zambians needed to follow the guidelines under the Bill of Rights because it was a blueprint on how to deal with tribalism.
Siamunene said if the matter was not given the attention it deserved, it would throw the nation into fire and instability like other countries on the continent that had experienced chaos because of selfish and political decisions.
He urged Zambians to rise above tribalism and reject it.
Siamunene said Zambians should ensure tribalism and its purveyors were not voted into office.
“Tribalism should and must not be reflected in the voting patterns in the coming general elections. This can only be done if we reject the purveyors of tribalism, the architect of tribalism, the promoters of tribalism, defenders of tribalism in whatever forms it comes,” he said.
And Siamunene says the minimum qualification clause for people to hold political office must be removed from the Constitution because it was discriminatory.
