Zambian leader Rupiah Banda on Saturday joined local chiefs in a traditional ritual to ask ancestral spirits and God for rains.
Officiating at Chakwela Makumbi traditional ceremony, which means pulling clouds together to form rains, of the Soli people in Chongwe District, about 45km east of Lusaka, President Banda implored Zambians to produce a bumper harvest through hard work, discipline and prayers to God.
“Your royal highness, not only have you prayed for us to have rains so that we can have a lot of food, but you are telling us in the same spirit that we can only have food if we work hard. I remember you telling me, as we were planting there, that this ceremony marks the end of pleasure of wearing suits as we are dressed today, that now we must get ready to go to work,” said President Banda.
The ceremony was attended by about 17 chiefs from various parts of Zambia.
“…it is unfortunate that in our country today there are people who tend to think that there is any other way to feed ourselves or to enrich ourselves or to make our lives better without hard work, discipline.”
He said the government would continue to subsidise the production of Zambia’s staple food, maize, through the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) – a government initiative to pay about 60 per cent of the cost of fertiliser for a limited number of farmers.
“I am happy to note that Chongwe District has received 24,500 by 50kg of D compound (fertiliser) and 16,000 by 50kg of urea (fertiliser). Within the next few days, seed should arrive in Chongwe in readiness for the planting season,” President Banda assured.
Other than being a ritual to ask for rains, President Banda said the Chakwela Makumbi traditional ceremony unifies Zambians.
“It is such a wonderful treat to see Zambians from all walks of life, tribes and cultures coming together to celebrate the Chakwela Makumbi ceremony,” said President Banda.
Earlier, President Banda and the head of the Soli people, Senior Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II, lit a fire to clear a crop field and planted maize and other food crops within her palace after the chieftainess’ ritual prayer to the ancestors.
“The essence of this traditional ceremony is to ask our ancestral spirits to give my people rains and other favourable weather conditions to enable them grow and harvest enough food,” said Nkomeshya Mukamambo II.
“Today, I stand here to pray to God to open up the windows of heaven so that the sky can shower the earth with the right amount of rains so that people can grow more food for themselves to eat. This is the uniqueness of my ceremony.”
President Banda was shown several local farming tools the Soli people have used to produce their food since time im memorial.
Zambia enters the 2009/2010 agriculture season with a surplus maize stock of about 203,271 metric tonnes from the previous season. A couple of weeks ago, Zambia’s Agriculture minister said the country will export about 100, 000 metric tonnes to Kenya.
Other than maize, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives indicated that in the 2008/2009 agriculture season, Zambia recorded wheat surplus of 50,516 metric tonnes and cassava surplus of 464,632 metric tonnes.
In another development, violence erupted between Zambia’s ruling party and opposition supporters in Solwezi Central Constituency on Thursday during the filing in of nomination papers by candidates in this month’s parliamentary by-election.
An opposition councillor sustained severe injuries during the fracas and police had to use tear gas to quell the violence, according to a local elections observer organisation.
Opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) and its alliance partner, Patriotic Front (PF), supporters had escorted their parliamentary candidate, Mr Watson Lumba, to file in his nomination papers at Solwezi Civic Centre.
When the UPND/PF supporters reached Kyawama market, a venue for a rally, suspected ruling MMD supporters confronted them in the presence of police officers, a local NGO said.
by Elias Mbao
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