Chief Katyetye graduates with distinction
Chief Katyetye of the Tambo people in Isoka district has graduated with a distinction in traditional leadership and governance.
The Chief received his diploma from Chalimbana University at the graduation ceremony held on Friday.
He has told Chete FM News the course “gives someone a wide scope of how to cope or equalise in the society”.
The biggest challenge was finding time to study.
“I have a lot of things to do and you’d find that mostly, I was not studying a lot at home, I used to come and study during the sessions of the lectures. And it’s only that l’m used to such kind of routine,” he said in an interview with Chete FM News.
The traditional leader says he did not go to school to look for a job but gain knowledge on how to best deal with people.
“A lot of people used to get surprised because they just think ‘chiefs don’t have that time even if they graduate where are they going to get employed?’ It’s not just a matter of getting employed, that people study for, no. We’re just getting ourselves to move at that pace whereby the world in a state of civilization, so you have to make sure that you have a knowhow in many fields so that you cope with how the world is going.”
“I have added a lot of things which I didn’t know. For instance, financial management, I’ve just added on the knowledge which I acquired some time back and some of the administrative issues which we had been facing concerning the running of the chiefdom. Now it’s very easy to handle everyone at each and every position in my chiefdom.”
He has a message for other leaders and his subjects.
“I’d just encourage my fellow chiefs to pursue this course, it’s one of the first and one of the best of its kind in Africa. Even our friends in other countries are looking forward to start pursuing this kind of a course.”
Chief Katyetye is also a businessman and farmer with “a lot of animals.”
He’s currently cultivating a 250 hectare farmland.
He added that he’s training his children to become employers.
The Chief who goes by the name Jeremiah M’tambo says the throne has shaped his character.
“I had a lot of challenges when I went onto the throne because there were a lot adjustments, they way I used to play myself around and the way used to conduct myself, I was very rough to say. At the moment I’ve adjusted myself to suit my position.”