. Zulu

By JOWIT SALUSEKI –
ZAMBIAN reggae icon Maiko Zulu is elated with sentiments by President Edgar Lungu that the National Arts Council (NAC) needs to be restructured.
“Over the years, as far back as the days of the MMD government, artistes have been calling in vain for the revamping of the Council which in its present form has largely failed to live up to its expectation as the custodian and chief promoter and protector of the interests of the artistes and the industry,” Maiko posted on his official Facebook page.
He added that NAC, which is largely known for the Ngoma Awards has in the recent past been directly at loggerheads with the very artistes it’s supposed to represent, to a point of labelling them as ‘rebels’ and ‘Buffalo Soldiers’, artistes who have genuinely been concerned with the dismal performance of the nation’s arts mother body.
The dreadlocked artiste says it is therefore heartening and without doubt the pronouncement by the Head of State was best news in the ears of the artistes since the announcement of the creation of the Ministry of Tourism and Arts by the late President Michael Sata.
He hoped that the restructuring of NAC will be the first step into settling the long overdue demands and calls by artistes for Government’s relevance in the development of the Creative Industry, a sector which has a huge potential of becoming a major player in Government’s realisation of the 500,000 jobs for the youth by the end of 2016.
Last weekend, Copperbelt based singer Wesley Chibambo alias Dandy Crazy also took  to social media to denounce both the Zambia Association of Musicians (ZAM) and NAC, describing them as being ‘’useless’’, hence the very reason why he was not  a member of  the musicians’ mother body.
Speaking this week in Gaborone, Botswana, during the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government Summit, President Lungu said the National Arts Council (NAC) needed to be restructured.