UPND deputy secretary general – political affairs Patrick Mucheleka says it is an absurdity that the northern circuit that PF politicians want to portray as their foothold is pervasively poor.
He notes that except for few emergent infrastructures in Muchinga Province’s headquarters, Chinsali, Luapula and Northern Provinces are embarrassingly underdeveloped.
Meanwhile, Mucheleka says if he was not above tribal politics, he could have easily joined the “PF looting machine.”
He was reacting to continued tribal politicking by many officials in the PF rank and file.
Mucheleka said poverty was so entrenched in the northern circuit and that the people who had ‘created’ that environment were those from the northern circuit because: “they have stolen from the people.”
He argued that there was nothing to show in the northern bloc provinces but that since those in the PF knew that a general election was nigh, “they are going to the northern circuit to endear themselves by trying to mislead our people.”
“Go to Kasama and the entire Northern Province, go to Muchinga, go to Luapula; three quarters of the ministers and permanent secretaries in the last 10 years are all from Muchinga, Northern and Luapula provinces. But does that not prompt you to ask a question how poverty in those provinces is so pervasive when these fellows who are in charge of the system come from there?” Mucheleka wondered in an interview. “Lishina fye ati iyo tuleteka (it’s just by name that we are ruling). Iyo tatulefwaya umu Tonga (no! We don’t want a Tonga). [But] what have you done for your people?”
He said apart from the period that Margaret Mwanakatwe was finance minister, the rest (Alexander Bwalya Chikwanda, Felix Mutati and Dr Bwalya Ng’andu) who have been in charge of that ministry, during the PF reign, were Bembas.
“Have they even put up one single industry for our people in the northern circuit to get jobs? Nothing! The money they have acquired has just been put in New Kasama in Lusaka. They have created New Kasama to ensure that they have nothing to do with Kasama in Northern Province,” he noted. “These ministers and permanent secretaries from the northern circuit have taken their money in New Kasama where they are building mansions for themselves and their children.”
Mucheleka challenged Bemba politicians in the PF government to point even at their own personal property benefiting northerners.
“I want to challenge the Bemba politicians, Bwalya Ng’andu, Mutati, Alexander Chikwanda, [Christopher] Yaluma, to tell us what property they have put up in Northern Province,” he said.
“If you go to Kasama where my mother comes from, I have a commercial property there. Go to Luwingu where my father comes from, I have property there. If you go to Mucheleka village in Luwingu where you (this reporter) have been to, we have a family farm.”
Mucheleka pointed out that if he did not have passion for the people of Northern Province, “I could not have put up any property there.”
“The only thing I could have done was to probably join the PF looting machine. I could have done that very easily! I would have also been looting. But at whose expense? At the expense of our people from the northern circuit!” he explained. “This is why I have made a serious undertaking that I will stand in solidarity with the poor people in all the provinces of Zambia.”
Mucheleka further stressed that he had never identified himself with any tribe.
He explained that he was not only a full-time politician but also a professional development worker.
“I’m a civil rights activist! I’m perhaps one of the few Zambians who are specialised at masters’ degree level in rural development. I consciously chose that field – rural development economics – because I felt that I needed to contribute to uplifting the wellbeing of our people in the rural areas,” Mucheleka said.
“This is why even when I was a lecturer at the University of Zambia…I didn’t sprung-up from the streets like some politicians in the PF. I’m a professional who has taught at this country’s highest learning institution – the University of Zambia. I was teaching senior students in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Development Studies, where I was a lecturer in agriculture and rural development, and social research methods. So, how can I be talking about tribe?”
Mucheleka added that he worked for Caritas where the social teachings of the Catholic are that one had to transform people’s lives, “in line with what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, wants for all of us.”
“This is why I can’t talk about tribe. My engraving within Caritas taught me how to respect and uplift the wellbeing of human beings, especially the underprivileged, without looking at tribe,” Mucheleka said.
“I have been to many parts of this continent, many parts of this globe in search of peace. I have been to Cambodia to try and bring about peace. I have been to Sierra Leone in search of peace-building. Talk about Liberia and the story of Charles Tailor; I have been there in search of peace that arises as a result of ethnic reasons.”
He added: “I have been to Kigali, Rwanda on missions of peace-building during my illustrious career in the civil society.”
“So, how can I come home and identify myself with a single tribe and that there is one tribe which is more superior than the other? How can I identify myself with tribal politics? I have been able to transcend above tribal politics,” Mucheleka noted. “It’s a paradox that there are those who are preaching about Bemba superiority, whatever that means. But you will find that the poorest of the poor in this country, even in the last 10 years, are actually in Northern, Luapula and Muchinga provinces.”
Mucheleka underscored his challenge that Bemba politicians ought to point at just one mega development project which they have done in Northern and Luapula provinces.
“In Muchinga Province you may find a few double storey buildings which suddenly sprung up when [Michael] Sata divided Northern Province to create Muchinga Province,” he said.
“Chinsali, the provincial capital for Muchinga Province, at least you can now find two universities – Robert Kapasa Makasa and Paul Mushindo, the new provincial administration, the Muchinga Province Police Division headquarters and the new Chinsali hospital. But go to Northern Province where aba Bemba nkonko (distinctive Bembas) are found, nothing has been done.”
Mucheleka further asked commerce minister Yaluma, who recently was in his constituency talking about tribalism, to tell Zambians what he had in that constituency, Malole.
“What is in Kasama Central and Lukashya constituencies, for instance? What developmental projects have they taken there and who is employed?” Mucheleka asked.
“So, why should people continue listening to their tribal stupidity? They claimed that they would build Kasama Central Hospital, Kasama University, Kasama ultra-modern Stadium. But there is nothing there. They are feeling the pressure and that’s why they are now going round frightening northerners about tribalism.”
Meanwhile, Mucheleka indicated that it was upsetting that Bembas had a paramount chief Chitimukulu, who wants to quarrel with everyone.
“He wants to pick a fight with Jack Kalala, James Lukuku, Joe Mwale, and George Zulu. At least if he can pick a fight with me because I’m his nephew – perhaps one day I may take over from him because my mother is a princess,” said Mucheleka.