FILE: Litunga of Barotseland Lubosi Imwiko II (R), visiting Kalonga Gawa Undi (L) of the Chewa people in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, August 2018

 

PARAMOUNT Chief Kalonga Gawa Undi of the Chewa speaking people has asked the Lusaka High Court to dismiss the matter in which a senior royal family member of the Chewa Royal Establishment is challenging his selection and installation as chief for want of prosecution.

In this matter Christopher Phiri has sued Fredrick Daka seeking an order that his selection and installation as chief was illegal as the Gawa was to come from the Senior Royal Family instead of the Junior Royal family hence Daka’s failure to oversee the Chewa Kingdom.

Phiri wants the Lusaka High Court to order that the appointment of Daka as the Kalonga Gawa Undi is null and void for irregularity.

He also wants an order that the Chewe Royal Establishment selects another chief from the senior lineage to be installed as Kalonga Gawa Undi.

According to summons for an order to dismiss the action, the Gawa wants the Lusaka High Court to dismiss the lawsuit for want of prosecution arguing that Phiri has failed to prosecute the matter since February 2020.

Daka through his lawyer, Sebastian Zulu, said on November 10, 2020 he conducted a search on the matter and discovered that Phiri has not taken any further action to prosecute his claim.

“That I verify, believe, that the plaintiff does not want to prosecute his claim for a period of almost 10 months now and that this honorable court is entitled to dismiss this action pursuant to the

High Court (Amendment) Rules of 2020,” he said.

Phiri in his statement of claim said the Chewa chiefdom which stretches from Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi is headed by the Kalonga Gawa Undi whose palace is in Zambia.

He said after the death of Kalonga Gawa Undi Chibvunga, Daka was installed as Kalonga Gawa Undi in complete disregard to the laid down traditional procedures.

Phiri said according to the customary procedure the potential heir to the throne was himself, Gabriel Sakala, Tyson Phiri, and Fedelis Sakala who are from the senior lineage.

He contended that at the time of Daka’s installation there were several potential heirs to the throne from the Senior Royal Family and as such he wondered why none of them were selected and installed as the Kalonga Gawa Undi.

Phiri said the selection and installation of the wrong person as heir to the throne had caused a lot of dissent from the junior chiefs in the Chewa chiefdom hence Daka’s failure to organise the chiefdom properly.

He alleged that Daka had not been staying at the palace of the Chewa chiefdom at Mukaika in Katete district, a fact that further demonstrated that he had no interest in the affairs of the Chewa

chiefdom owing to his wrong installation as Kalonga Gawa Undi.

Phiri further lamented that owing to Daka’s wrong installation as the Gawa, the Chewa chiefdom has been deprived of having a proper person to be installed as Kalong Gawa Undi who would be capable of bringing the Chewa people in the three countries together.

But in his defence and counterclaim, Daka said he was rightly selected and installed by the Mbumba as chief after the death of the previous Gawa.

The Gawa said the late Kalonga Gawa Undi Chibvunga was his grandparent because his mother the late Esnala Chatawana Phiri was the eldest niece to the late chief.

He explained that the Mbumba of the Undi Royal Family selected him to succeed to the Undi throne and his uncle the late William Chibvunga was in

agreement with the Mbumba’s choice.

Daka disclosed that Phiri and other alleged heirs to the Undi throne are not members of the Undi Family.

He argued that Phiri has been challenged to prove his family tree but he has failed to trace his lineage maternally.

In his counterclaim Daka is seeking a declaration that Phiri is not a member of the Undi Royal Family and is not entitled to ascend to the Undi throne.

He wants a declaration that he was validly selected as the Gawa by the Mbumba to ascend to the throne.

Daka is further seeking an injunction to stop Phiri from holding himself as the heir to the Undi throne or from in any way destabilising or undermining his authority as his majesty Kalonga Gawa Undi.

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