By Gunston Chola Snr
The recent incident at Mtenguleni during the Nc’wala ceremony involving Patriotic Front (PF) acting president Given Lubinda and his vitriolic reaction and that of his party, show deep coarseness and the unrepentanT levels of the former ruling party.
Mr Lubinda and his acting secretary general Nickson Chilangwa have accused Republican President Mr Hakainde Hichilema of having orchestrated the ejection of Mr Lubinda from the ceremony on February 26. Petty, trivial and insignificant, the issue should have quietly been sorted out with the organisers of the Nc’wala traditional ceremony and State House security detail, other guests would not even have heard about it. And it could have saved Mr Lubinda and shielded him from unnecessary attention and embarrassment.
But if PF want to live in self-denial, still dreaming that the 2.8 million Zambians who voted for the United Party for National Development (UPND) and HH were Martians and the only Zambians were the 1.8 million that cast their votes for PF and Mr Edgar Lungu, they are entitled to remain in Alice’s Wonderland. Clearly it is such self-effervescent reactions that will make the salvaging of the sinking ‘Titanic’ virtually impossible. Dragging the President in such an issue resurfaces the murky that destroyed the PF rule and caused downward plunge of president Edgar Chagwa Lungu as he was bandaged in such pettiness. PF officials are making every effort to ensure the boat remains at the bottom of the sea through mistaken views that their mouthings would draw sympathy from the Zambians who were brutalised by the same regime.
First and foremost, the Nc’wala ceremony is a private undertaking of the Ngoni people. But unselfishly they open it to the public to sample the delicacies of their past, even of the Nkosi ya ma nkosi sloshing raw blood; old Ngoni women showing off their once enviable pride, now flabby and slacken mammals, while the men and youth called impis adorned in animal skins and waved knobkerries the faded pride of Shaka Zulu.
It is the view of the organising committee that the first citizen must attend such a momentous celebration. In Zambia amid numerous traditional ceremonies, there is an unwritten rule that the Head of State only attends five of them that involve paramount chiefs – hence Nc’wala, Kuomboka, Mutomboko, Kusefya pa ng’wena and Kulamba of Gawa Undi. Ministers and deputy ministers officiated at the rest.
Routinely, the invitations are sent by the organising committee. They also plan sitting arrangements for the visitors depending on their level in conjunction with the government officials, particularly the provincial Office of the President personnel who must attend briefings, visit the arena, inspect and pour through security details. It is the local officials that brief their counterparts from State House. Where there’s normalcy, that is what takes place. But in the Lubinda case there was evidently a lapse in arrangements from the organising committee, Office of the President and the local police command because at any level they could not have left the tent where the Head of State would be unguarded.
Familiarity breeds contempt and it seems Mr Noel Nkhoma has run his lap at the organising committee to overlook such a delicate issue. Granted that he has apologised for the gaffe, the apology should not have been to Lubinda who must know better the intricacies of protocol as a former minister but to President Hichilema whose name had been drenched in the mud, maligned and brought into disrepute. The President’s itinerary is prepared by aides and he blindly follows, knowing that they will not land him in a ditch. It was most callous and intentional for Mr Chilangwa to write the way he did unless it was a normal under Mr Lungu. As former provincial minister, the way I was during the government of laws and not of men of president Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, Mr Chilangwa must be aware of such arrangements as former chairman of the Provincial Joint Security Council. To write as he did while knowing the truth was unforgiveable and treacherous.
Mr Chilangwa revealed how a PF high powered delegation led by Mr Lubinda arrived at Mtenguleni venue and he was ushered to his seat by Noel Nkhoma (patron of the organising committee) upon which the acting president was recognised and announced by the director of ceremonies. Mr Lubinda was then placed at the very end of the front row in the VVIP dignitaries’ pavilion.
“After an hour and just when the arrival of the Republican President was announced, Mr Nkhoma approached Mr Lubinda telling him that he has been instructed by a senior security officer of the Republican President that Mr Lubinda was being asked to leave. Mr Lubinda requested to speak to the concerned officer who had issued the instructions for him to leave, upon which assistant Superintendent D Mwanza came along and informed Mr Lubinda that he is made to leave saying that they did not want confusion to take place where the Republican President would be,” he wrote.
Various authorities have given their explanation of what took place. State House spokesperson Anthony Bwalya dismissed Mr Chilangwa’s statement and laid it out that Lubinda failed to recognise the hierarchy by the Nc’wala organising committee. Mr Bwalya said the statement purporting that the acting president of PF was ejected on presidential orders, is not only false but also a total and malicious fabrication aimed at maligning the integrity of President Hichilema. All guests at the event, he said, were bound by the protocols of the event as had been determined and prescribed by the organising team.
It is better to state that in the first place there were no protocols set by the organising committee, otherwise what transpired could not have occurred.
The resemblance of normalcy was revealed by Mr Hacoombwa at his media briefing. He recalled how a couple of tents were erected at the arena. One was earmarked for the President and his entourage and seats were marked accordingly. At the other end was another tent marked for invited guests including leaders of the opposition. That seemed like the likely place for Mr Lubinda.
As a former Cabinet minister Mr Lubinda could have inquired even from Mr Nkhoma or the security around when he noticed that the seat was clearly marked Minister of Local Government and Rural Development. His inability merely showed that at all cost he was poised for a showdown and a fight. If it was his seat it was going to show acting PF president.
Mr Lubinda is a cocky, proud and arrogant man and it would only mean his action was premeditated. “Much as we had the capacity to resist the ejection, we elected to be civil about it for the sake of harmony and for observing the decorum deserved by Your Highness and the ceremony,” Mr Chilangwa wrote, with no regard to the Head of State. Hence, Mr Bwalya’s reaction is on the ball. What happened was inability to observe and keep basic protocol expectations designed to maintain order and ensure the dignity of the Nc’wala ceremony and failure to recognise the hierarchy of invitation designed by the organising committee.
At two different levels of duty, I have witnessed similar incidents that ended amicably. The first one involved the founding father of this Republic Dr Kenneth David Kaunda in Chibombo and the second involved the current President in Zambezi, respectively. In 1996 as specialist writer for the Times of Zambia, I was assigned to cover the inaugural traditional ceremony Kulamba Kubwalo of the Lenje people of Central Province. The organisers had invited then president Dr Frederick Chiluba to grace the occasion. But for the unwritten statute, the president assigned his vice, then Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda. The UNIP firebrand, Richard Kasanda, also invited Dr Kaunda. The organisers were thrown into a fix. They could not place the former president on the high table which was reserved for the guest of honour.
Energetically, Mr Kasanda noting Dr Kaunda was not on the high table, mobilised other tables to create a parallel high table, close to Brig Gen Miyanda. The organisers refused a second high table and the jostling began. This jostling witnessed the arrival of the General who put an end to the racket. When finally, Dr Kaunda and his delegation arrived, General Miyanda left the high table to welcome the first Republican president to the applause of the people and the ceremony proceeded smoothly.
As deputy minister at the Ministry of Community Development in 2002, since traditional ceremonies were under the ministry, I was assigned to accompany the Minister of Home Affairs, late Lackson Mapushi, to Likumbi lya Mize. Being in the advance party we arrived early to liaise with the organising committee on the sitting arrangements and we were at the venue until evening to see that they had been done properly. At the eastern end of officials’ tent by the entrance of the arena, Zambezi West member of parliament Charles Kakoma had arranged chairs for his party president Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND delegation. The following day there was a different story. A delegation of ceremony attendants arrived from Chingola in MP Chilufya Kazenene’s bus. When they arrived at the venue, they offloaded themselves on the seats organised for the UPND leader and his delegation. Any protests and reasonings failed to yield any tangible outcome. In his humble way, HH accepted a place somewhere on the western wing and honourably came to greet minister Mapushi.
It is, therefore, not true to accuse such a person of ordering the rejection of another leader even when that leader is handpicked and still needs to go for confirmation, assuming that happens. Politics must not be confrontational. The people who decide are the electorate depending on the depth and clarity of the message being given to the people. For the moment Zambians gave the mandate to HH and he must be given due respect. If on August 12, 2026 they judge HH to have failed, they still have the right to shunt him out of State House. It behoves then for ‘mapoloto’, as we nicknamed Mr Lubinda in the House, to go to the people, show and convince them PF meant well and they will easily reverse the score line. There is never a draw and for the moment only five months of five years have been played. Don’t play yourself out even before half time whistle, the exact story of the proverbial toady (akafumbula).
The toady heard about the visit of a giant animal in its absence. In order to understand the magnitude of the visitor it began the antics of blowing itself to increase its size to the buffalo. What about now? It would ask. Ah, you have not even equalled its foot, others told him. Well at least now, they said you have not even come closer to one eye. Finally, it blew itself up without accomplishing its mission.
PF have puffed up, insulted Zambians who voted UPND. They have bought binoculars just to ridicule Zambians. In the manner they have taken HH’s presidency as if something were forced onto their throats. It’s a wonder if they will have power to sustain the onslaught for the rest of the five years without the risk of blowing themselves out of contention.
Send comment to: +260 966 783383.