I WILL ONLY BELIEVE LUO IS RUNNING-MATE WHEN I READ GOVT NEWSPAPERS – CHITIMUKULU…but angrily refuses to say what he will say once he has read
By Staff Reporter
Paramount chief of the Bemba people, Chitimukulu says he will only believe that Nkandu Luo is Edgar Lungu’s running mate when he reads about the news in the government newspapers.
And opposition UPND deputy secretary general Patrick Mucheleka said for the UPND “it is eyes on the ball”, as Hakainde Hichilema has the prerogative to select his own running mate, and that can come from anywhere, including Mutale Nalumango, Charles Milupi, Felix Mutati, Kelvin Bwalya Fube, Ernest Mwansa, or any other person.
Contacted by Daily Revelation following the decision by President Lungu to pick Professor Nkandu Luo as his running mate in the 2021 general elections, Chitimukulu angrily refused to respond to the question, saying he was not aware about the development.
“Nshi imwene mu newspaper, kamo nasoma (I have not seen that news in the newspaper, unless I study, I read the newspaper) newspaper. I can’t just get it from you,” Chitimukulu said, saying he will wait to read the news in Daily Nation, Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail.
But put across to him that President Lungu and Prof Luo’s filing-in was broadcast everywhere across the country, Chitimukulu said: “Niwe wachichimona, bushe ninchimona (It is you who saw that, did I see that myself).”
Asked what he would say once he has read about the news in the said newspapers, Chitimukulu angrily said: “Katwishi! Ulefwaya nkwebe (I don’t know do you want me to tell you)? Ifyo nkalanda nkwebe kabili. Lilyo line elo nkalanda (You want me to tel, you what I will say? No! You will know it that very time I will speak.)”
Chitimukulu and Prof Luo have had feuds, after the Prof vehemently opposed to the paramount chief’s ascension to the Chitimukulu. Luo, during the time the Chitimukulu was a senior chief Mwamba Sosala, accused him of wanting to usurp the paramount chieftaincy.
But Mucheleka said the Chitimukulu should be the right person to answer questions on the decision to have Prof Luo as Lungu’s running mate..
“The person who should be answering that question is my uncle Chitimukulu. Have you forgotten what happened, you think that issue has disappeared?” Mucheleka said, saying in the “unlikely event” that President Lungu won a third term and something unfortunate happened along the way, Prof Luo would become President and would finish off her unfinished business with Chitimukulu. “When you have a running mate there are many issues you must take into account, what if we were to wake up and find her as President, where will that leave the Bemba kingdom particularly Chitimukulu.
“She is the one who had vowed never to allow that man to become Chitimukulu and that he was masquerading as as a chief, as senior chief Mwamba and later on Chitimukulu. And that as far as she is concerned the person who should be Chitimukulu is from the ngoshe mukote branch, no wonder she was nicknamed Ngoshe mukote.”
Mucheleka recalled that Prof Luo argued that Sosala and his family were the usurpers to the throne, and that the throne should go back to the original owners.
“Meaning should she in the unlikely event she became president where will that leave the Bemba? She will finish the unfinished business and she will go full throttle to dismantle the abena Ng’andu clan and will take that to those she feels are the rightful owners from Muchinga,” Mucheleka said.
Asked if he thought that selection of Prof Luo was to counter any moves from the UPND in the event they went with party vice-president Nalumango or the other people from the Bemba speaking areas, Mucheleka said: “For us as UPND it’s eyes on the ball, the President HH has the prerogative to pick his running mate.
That running mate can come from anywhere, it can be Mutale Nalumango or indeed it can be (ADD leader Charles) Milupi, it can be probably it could be (MDC leader Felix) Mutati it could be KBF. It could be Ernest Mwansa. So the issue ultimately has nothing to do with regionalism or tribalism if you like. It’s about the livelihoods of the majority of our people who have continued to wallow in abject poverty.”
Mucheleka, returning to Prof Luo, said she was a highly qualified person academically but had little substance in terms of man management and relations.
He said in fact one of the conditions, Chitimukulu put forth to support President Lungu was that he would remove Prof Luo as minister of local government, and that se was never even heard campaigning in Northern Province.
“And I have never seen anywhere where she has reconciled with the Bembas,” he said.
Mucheleka said when Prof Luo was transferred to the Ministry of Higher Education, she quickly picked up quarrels with higher learning institutions and lecturers, and even instigated the removal of meal allowances in institutions of higher learning.
“That is also her character, when it comes to human relations she has never had it. Remember what happened when she was minister of health under Chiluba’s government, she started quarreling with the doctors, nurses and even patients. So I don’t know what Lungu saw in her,” Mucheleka said. “It tells you that these people could even have unfinished business with Bembas especially that her roots are Bisa, so she has that grudge against the Bemba royal establishment and the real Bembas because of the issue of hegemony where she feels Bisas should have hegemony.”
Mucheleka said the President’s selection clearly showed that he had pretended to have reconciled with Chitimukulu because he was looking for a vote.
“And now today he’s also back to where he started positioning her to come and overrun Chitimukulu Sosala Manga…she has unfinished business,” said Mucheleka. “Just tell him that that person is now getting closer and closer and she has not finished…I am reminding him that that person is back and she still has unfinished business with him and those who are there. – Daily Revelation