President Hichilema’s Tribal-Victimhood is Off and Dangerous

Oscar Chavula Wrote;

Thinking aloud…

I was brought up in my older brother JB’s home after my father passed away in October of 1981. I spent my childhood, and teenage years in a that same home. Many at times things were alright but there were times when I was made to feel unwanted and despised, I was called names and many at times forgotten.

There were years I didn’t have uniform for the new academic year and I didn’t understand why until years later, I wasnt truly one of them!

I am an Easterner or Tumbuka if that helps and we are deeply patriarchal, so by default, we get to look after nieces, nephews, grandchildren and even non relatives in one home and it doesnt feel any strange to me, it is who we are. I am however, extremely sensitive to partiality or discrimination of any kind either in my home or around me, I can see it from miles away, my policy is always to nip it in the bud as soon at rares it’s ugly head!

I heard P1 the other day speaking to invited CSOs at State House and he spoke about how he is Pariah and went as far as using the word animal on Himself in his Lamentation, he USED extreme language to depict himself as a victim of tribalism… My heart Sunk, I couldn’t believe what he said and the references he used, I found it in bad taste.

I walked in VoltAmp along Chachacha road in Central town, Lusaka in 2011 and found the Owner (a Zambian of Asian Origin) racially abusing an old employee who had made some sort of mistake… my heart hurt but I did tell him after a moment that I will never buy anything from his shop even he was the only supplier of broadcast or electrical equipment and it’s 14 years on now and I have stepped foot in his shop. Partiality can never be excused.

When Nyela and the Former CG of ZRA were caught in such Dog Whistling in a recorded conversation years ago, I personally called it out.

Bill 10 was a mess and everything or anything He (P1) said was scathing to the then PF leadership and he demanded the withdrawal of it in Parliament at every turn. The Bill lamentably failed in Parliament largely due to the pressure of the same CSOs he was meeting the other day. Bill 7 is a sort of Bill 10 somehow and it was bound to attract the same attention if not more especially that it was coming from him, the man who opposed Bill 10 with every might.

Tribalism is a cancer, it divides a people and destroys nations, it must never be left to fester or given oxygen to grow in any way. It is extremely insidious with potential to undermine national unity. It is therefore indefensible for the Head of State to speak in that tone and reference to himself.

This NATION must be held together by all means!