Did you know that at the age of 72, in 2003, Elias Chipimo Snr relocated from Lusaka back to the village in Mporokoso because of “scandals” and “madness” in Lusaka?
(Follow the details below from the excerpt from Conversations with Memorable Characters)
CHILUBA was a nuisance to the country, Dr. Kaunda made me unemployable for 11 years while Mwanawasa is his own worst enemy.
That is how Zambia’s former Ambassador to Japan, the late Elias Chipimo Snr described the country’s first three Presidents in a personality interview I had with him in January 2003.
Chipimo said former president Frederick Chiluba was a nuisance to Zambia because he was a confessed political engineer who bribed people while Dr. Kenneth Kaunda unjustifiably denounced and made him unemployable for 11 years. He said President Levy Mwanawasa was his own enemy because each time he opened his mouth, he put his foot in it.
He said he had decided to go and settle in the village to find peace because politics in Zambia had become “stupid” while life in town was full of “madness”.
So when I met Chipimo on Wednesday, January 5, 2003 during lunch time at his favorite Lusaka Flying Club where he usually bought his whisky after a meal, I asked if I could profile him for that Sunday edition.
He had no objection but said I should meet him that very Wednesday for an interview because he was leaving Lusaka for the village the following day. He was going to the village to stay for good because he was tired of town life.
And so I went that afternoon to his Kabulonga home and found his wife Anna [now deceased] systematically packing some of the items the couple was taking to the village.
Chipimo was seated in one of his wooden carved chairs sipping whisky from a silver metal cup. He welcomed me thus:
Mwaiseni we mwana. Kuti waikala apaliponse kabili nawishiba ati tulelonga [Welcome my son and you can sit anywhere you wish, as you know we are packing]
But before we start the interview, read this.
He then gave me five small white pieces of paper with his initials, E.M.C.C, printed at the foot of each piece.
He scribbled some words on those pieces in red ink, which read:
Sorry for the red ink. That’s all I have. But I have to put my opening remarks in writing so they are reproduced as accurately as possible and I start:
As you can see, I am leaving to go and live in my village, back to the roots in Mporokoso district where I was born some 72 years ago. I am taking some development contribution there. To pay back what the village and area contributed towards my advancement.
Far from the madding crowd, ‘Thomas Hardy’. Far from the garbled talk of politicians, high and low. Far from scandals and squanderers that fill dailies everyday, going to seek peace of mind at last, in a quiet village house.
In Thomas Hardy’s striking novel titled: ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’, I am running away from the frenzied madness of politicians, high and low, hurling insults upon each other and running away also from the unbelievable revelations of scam and plunder. Heaven help!
From there, I started the interview, the conversation:
Amos Malupenga:
I will start with the common profile question; who is Elias Chipimo? Give me your brief background.
Elias Chipimo Snr:
Well, some of my brief background is in what I have already written down. But my name is Elias Marko Chisha Chipimo senior. I was born in 1931 officially on the 23rd of February although on the church record I was born on the 17th February. So I am a little older than I should be, in a sense. I was born somewhere in Mporokoso at a village called Chelenganya – an imaginative one. And I am going back to that village to do some imaginative things, to help develop our people there even in my old age. …
(An excerpt from Conversations with Memorable Characters)
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