🇿🇲 MUSOMA BACKS CHIEF MUKUNI’S ELEVATION, CALLS FOR MWATA KAZEMBE’S RESTORATION
ZAMBIA REPUBLICAN PARTY (ZRP) PRESIDENT Wright Musoma has defended President Hakainde Hichilema’s decision to elevate Chief Mukuni of the Toka-Leya people to Paramount Chief status.
Mr. Musoma says opposition parties should avoid developing a culture of condemning every government decision simply because they are in opposition. He argues that the elevation is not about the individual occupying the throne, but about according the Toka-Leya Chiefdom the status of a Paramount Chiefdom—a status that, he says, will remain with the institution even when the current traditional leader is succeeded.
Mr. Musoma says traditional institutions can evolve over time, developing from villages into chiefdoms and, ultimately, kingdoms.
He further believes the elevation of Chief Mukuni could have tourism benefits for Livingstone, Zambia’s tourism capital, by creating an opportunity for visitors to experience the traditional institution and potentially visit the Paramount Chief’s palace alongside attractions such as Victoria Falls.
However, Mr. Musoma says President Hichilema should demonstrate fairness by also restoring Mwata Kazembe of the Lunda Kingdom in Luapula Province to Paramount Chief status.
He says the process of elevating Mwata Kazembe was initiated under the late President Levy Mwanawasa and should now be concluded. Mr. Musoma has urged President Hichilema to act expeditiously, arguing that recognising both Chief Mukuni and Mwata Kazembe as Paramount Chiefs would benefit the country.
He says there should be no unnecessary controversy surrounding Chief Mukuni’s elevation, noting that the President has constitutional authority regarding the recognition and elevation of traditional leaders.
WRIGHT MUSOMA
ZRP PRESIDENT 🇿🇲
I have always questioned the sanity of Wright Musoma, the so-called president of the Zambia Republican Party. HH has not made any decision to elevate Chief Mukuni to a paramount chief. It’s Chief Mukuni of his own free will who has petitioned the state in the Constitutional Court to declare him a paramount chief. Mwata Kazembe is not a paramount chief but a senior chief. However, that does not diminish his position as the senior-most traditional ruler of the Lunda of Luapula Province. It therefore follows that the title of paramount chief is irrelevant to his standing in the Lunda traditional system.