Political Tribalism versus Eastern Province: Nothing has changed
By Chris Zumani Zimba
1. If you analyze Vote pattern since 1964 to 2021 for this country, it clearly shows that Eastern province has never been involved into political tribalism;
2. Such an accusation would even offend Kenneth Kaunda in his grave because Easterners were his main neutral allies and fire extinguishers when political tribalism greeted the UNIP era;
3. If you analyze RB and ECL’s election results who are past presidents from the region, you will speedily realize that they did not get the lion’s share from their own relatives in eastern province;
4. For example, Sata got huge votes in Eastern Province against their own son RB in 2011 while in 2021, Lungu slimely won eastern province by merely 51% while HH got 49% ;
5. Eastern province is home to multiple ethnic groups and tribes such as Senga, Ngoni, Chewa, Tumbuka, Bisa, Kunda, etc which makes practicing political tribalism almost impossible;
6. Even as you travel in the province, local languages, traditions and cultural practices change from one place to another making political tribalism impossible because the people are not one ethnic group;
7. KK used to love and call the region “Eastern Power” purely because he was proud of its agricultural tenacity and developmental heritage. The colonialists had similar feelings and experiences with the province;
8. KK’s famous liberation song of nationalism, unity and political togetherness was composed by Easterners- “Tiyende Pamodzi, ndi Mutima Umodzi”. This song became a liberation song in Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania;
9. Anyone from a province with such high political heritage of uniting everyone and promoting “One Zambia, One Nation” based on hosting different tribes and languages can only be blamed to be so foolish if they want to champion political tribalism;
10. Therefore, it is true that “Eastern province arise and unit as One Movement“ is surely a developmental and social movement meant to mobilize and coordinate the collective wisdom, knowledge, experiences and skills of people of the region for the betterment and prosperity of the province;
Dr Chris ZUMANI Zimba is a Political Scientist, Researcher, Author & Consultant specialized in Comparative Global Governance and Democratic Theories. He holds a PhD, MA, BA and Cert in Political Science. Zimba was President Lungu’s Political Advisor from December 2019 to August 2021.
Muzungu a ndi konde, this is pure public relations self-defence
Look at lungus cabinet and appointments and then judge or just be quite if u have nothing to talk about.lol
Bane limo tondolo musuma.
Let Zambia just adopt a Federal State System where each Province becomes a State, governing and developing itself with its Tribes. That is how we used to live before Whites came. And the Tribes who failed to live in their areas and started invading other Tribes in other areas due to their insatiable appetite to loot what was not theirs is well documented, even in modern times that Mentality is ingrained in those Tribes. It is very clear Zambian Tribes are finding it difficult to coexist since KK’s “One Zambia, One Nation” time. Let us not be like Ostriches burying our Heads in the sand, we have eka Tribal Problem in this country. And some Tribes are big on Talking and less on Hardwork whereas other Tribes are big on Hardwork and less on TikTok. And yet there are some Tribes with an Entitlement DNA. Total Entropy!!!
The reality is just the opposite of what Dr. Zumani is saying. In the transition from UNIP to MMD, my Mbuyas from the East remained staunchly UNIP (KK factor) and only switched to MMD after Rupiah Banda became President.
Similarly, PF did not have a single parliamentary seat from the East during the time of Mr. Sata. Things changed only after Mr. Lungu became president. However, this time around, to their credit they moved with the rest of the nation and gave UPND one or two seats. This is commendable.
Regardless of what the supporters of this Umodzi Kumawa may say, it is essentially a regional grouping meant to promote a narrow agenda with tribal/regional interests. It has nothing to do with development. What is the job of the MPs in parliament?
Easterners must refuse to be used my these self seeking individuals who resort to rouble rousing whenever they feel they are losing influence. Dr. Muhabi Lungu is furiously looking for a job.
Meant “rabble rousing”.