By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE in Petauke –

•PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu inspects a maize field in Petauke yesterday, where the crop has withered due to poor rains. The President was accompanied by Eastern Province Minister Malozo Sichone (centre) and Youth and Sports Minister Vincent Mwale (right). Picture By SHABBY MULOPWE/ZANIS

TRADITIONAL leaders in Eastern Province are happy that President Edgar Lungu has visited the province to have a first-hand insight of the looming hunger situation due to prolonged dry spells.
Senior Chief Kalindawalo of Petauke said President Lungu’s visit was timely and would provide him with a good picture of the extent of damage caused to crops.
Chieftainesses Nyanje and Mwanjabantu said that different chiefdoms were threatened with hunger and it was good that the President was in the province.
Mr Lungu has since asked the traditional leaders to help the Government identify needy households that are in need of food supplies.
He said during a meeting with Senior Chief Kalindawalo, Chief Mumbi, Chieftainesses Nyanje and Mwanjabantu as well as Chief Nyaphande in Petauke yesterday that Zambia was faced with looming hunger going by the poor weather pattern that had hit the country.
“We have seen that there is no rain, which means there will be no good harvest. Help us identify households in urgent need of relief food so that we give them priority,” Mr Lungu said.
The Head of State said the ‎Government had a duty to bring food to the people, and that although there was some relief food on the ground, it was not adequate.
Mr Lungu told the chiefs that the situation in Southern Province was worse and, as such, there was urgent need to look for resources to prevent starvation.
President Lungu also implored the traditional rulers to help political parties to identify the best leaders in their chiefdoms to vie for local positions.
The President said chiefs were supposed to be all-embracing and not practice tribal talk which was being perpetrated by politicians.
Mr Lungu said it was for this reason that chiefs were expected to give counsel to politicians against engaging in tribalism as no tribe in Zambia was bigger than the other.
“There are people who think it’s only them who can be presidents because their tribe is big. There is no small or big tribe in Zambia, we are equal,” President Lungu said.
He said that elections have had a history of bringing divisions, but it was up to the people, especially traditional leaders, to promote peace and unity.