STOP AND THINK! OUR LAND. OUR STORY. OUR RESPONSIBILITY

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"Ubufumu buucindika abeene," literally meaning, customary commoners, must honour their traditional leaders. So said our wise forefathers. Why is it important to do this? Because the traditional leaders are custodians of all that we are. They symbolize our culture; they mirror our tradition and are an insignia of what we call TRIBE (which means a group of persons having a common character, or interest.) They represent not only our history but are the emblem of our struggles, our triumphs, our evolution, our beliefs! And, most important, they hold in trust what belongs to us, our heritage, OUR LAND, AND ALL THAT IT HOLDS. As such, every tribesman must honour what we have.
 
 Yes, we honour and respect our chiefs, headmen, and Guardians' of Nature. Therefore we should not allow anyone or anything to erode this esteem? Is it possible for the state and privatizers to undermine their authority while we look helplessly on? Can we do something? Why should we bother to do so? What is in it for us? The answer to the last question, probably the most important, is simply this: Everything!

 For this reason, we should not let anyone degrade our chiefs, headmen, and Chipupilas before our own eyes. It seems this is what most educated people from our land have done for a long time. They have neglected and conspicuously abandoned their traditional leaders: some due to selfishness; others because they are wealthier; some because they are above tradition; others because of sheer indiscipline. And some have turned away from keeping their traditions as they think they have suffered injustices from the very chiefs they are supposed to honor. 

 Whatever the situation, there is always room to rethink our position, to revisit our history, and make amends. Our chiefs need us more now than ever before. Yes, YOU and ME! From Chiunda Ponde to Nsamba. From Kabinga to Kopa. From Chitambo to Bwalya Mponda.

 Take, as an example, one area in which we have seen our chiefs' authority slowly and systematically disintegrate while we watch: Land alienation. OUR LAND, supposedly secured for us by our chiefs and headmen, our spiritual guardians, gets alienated from us on the pretext that it is going to benefit us. And along with the land and our sacred groves go our natural resources: our soils, forests, and wildlife. Is it not a fallacy that someone can control or manage your property on your behalf, for you to gain better benefits, without him being a beneficiary? Even a real estate agent takes care of your property for profit! In short, there is simply nothing for nothing. The sugar-coated pitch about benefits commoners - we villagers - will reap from the use of land by someone else without OUR involvement is almost always a delusion. That is the case with the so-called Game Management Areas (GMAs) imposed on us in 1971.

Lechwe in the Chikuni GMA- Picture by African Parks

For example, Bangweulu chiefdoms that have surrendered most of their land to the state and their Public-Private Partnerships with outsiders have little to show for it. The privatizers and the government now police the villagers (rightful owners of the land and its natural resources). The poor continue to get poorer while managers get richer! Wouldn't the situation be better, if the chiefs and we regained control of the natural resources - as was the case during the Native Authority era? Maybe! 

 So, how long should we continue with absentee-owner management arrangements, without getting fully-involved as indigenous subjects of these chiefdoms? Isn't it about time we started asking those critical questions about our land and its treasures? Is it not about time we interrogated,  and accounted for the so-called benefits and see to whom they accrue? How many of us are seriously thinking about these issues?

 Anyway, dawn is near. The cocks have been crowing since 2016 while we were fast asleep. We can, and safely so, reclaim our traditional leaders' authority, and in turn, OUR RIGHTS, back because the law backs us one hundred per cent! The Protection of Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources, and Expressions of Folklore Act, 2016 unambiguously defines our rights. It reads:

 "26) Subject to this Act, a traditional community has the following rights over its genetic resources: (a) the exclusive right to regulate access to its genetic resources; (b) an inalienable right to use its genetic resources; (c) the exclusive right to share the benefits arising from the utilization of its genetic resources; and (d) the right to assign and conclude access agreements."

 I am not a lawyer; neither am I trying to play one. But I think the words "traditional community" must have been intended to imply all indigenous subjects of a chiefdom, and not only a few. To reclaim our rights, we need to act together. We do not need a political party to claim what is ours. We can work together as tribesmen. WE can achieve this through a CITIZENS' ASSEMBLY as we are trying to do by coming up with the Lunga Development Association (LDA) - but more on this later. We have witnessed natural resource management arrangements reduce the majority of indigenous people to mere spectators. Our interests are ill-served. It is time for us to take responsibility for our lives. Does this make sense to you? Sunkilenipo, ine nakoshafye umulilo!

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