By STEVEN ZANDE –
SENIOR Chief Nkula of the Bemba people of Chinsali District in Muchinga Province has said traditional leaders who decide to involve themselves in politics are not fit to be called chiefs.
Senior Chief Nkula said the duty of traditional leaders was to embrace all political players regardless of which party they belonged to while accepting the will of the people when their subjects voted in an election.
The traditional leader said this at his palace on Wednesday when a Commission of Inquiry into Voting Patterns and Electoral Violence delegation paid a courtesy call on him.
“In my chiefdom I don’t allow dirty politics, the kind of politics which thrives on violence,” Senior Chief Nkula said. “Such type of politics is unacceptable and dents our electoral system.”
He said traditional leaders had a mandate to encourage their subjects to merely vote for candidates who would help bring development in their areas.
Senior Chief Nkula said the trend of political violence that emerged during elections held in the recent past portrayed politics and voting as a dirty game due to outbreaks of violence.
He said in his area people grew apprehensive when the election period approached for fear of experiencing violence incidents before, during and after casting their vote.
Senior Chief Nkula challenged Zambians to practise values of the ‘One Zambia One Nation’ motto because this was a viable means through which the country would remain united and achieve development.
Politicians should not take politics to traditional leaders because the chiefs had a duty to work with all people, whatever their tribal origins.
Senior Chief Nkula said he had been an advocate of peaceful political engagement, warning that any official in his chiefdom who would be found in active politics faced disciplinary action.
He said Zambians had a common heritage, hence chiefs in the country should agree to work together in efforts to root out political violence and tribal voting patterns which were detrimental to peace and national unity.