Senior Chief Mununga calls for investment in his chiefdom

Senior Chief Mununga calls for investment in his chiefdom

Chienge, June 26, ZANIS………. Senior Chief Mununga has called for investment in his chiefdom and has pledged to devote his tenure of office as Senior Chief of the Shila people of Luapula Province to fighting the myths that his chiefdom was a haven for witchcraft.

He said the myths have been responsible for lack of development in his chiefdom and the myths were not true.

The Chief said thisl when Community Development Mother and Child Health Minister Joseph Katema and Luapula Province Ministe Benson Kapaya paid a courtesy call on him on Saturday.

He said there were a lot of lies about his chiefdom that witchcraft was even sold on the market places which has never happened in the chiefdom and said if such things used to happen during his ancestors, the scenario was no longer the same as his chiefdom was free from witchcraft and people should feel free to come and invest in his chiefdom.

He added that issues of witchcraft will not be tolerated in his chiefdom and he would devote his time to clearing the myths and if there were any witchcraft practices within his chiefdom, it was his duty to eliminate such practices so that public perception about Mununga should change.

The Chief said it was unfortunate that even some musicians composed negative songs about his chiefdom and popularised the negative public perception of witchcraft about Mununga which was not the true.

He said there was need to develop his chiefdom and development cannot come if people thought that witchcraft was rife in the chiefdom.

The Chief added that it was sad that even some witch finders have continued to perpetuate the myths that Mununga was the most efficacious origin of witch finding fetishes and once they invade the towns for their practices purport that they have come from Mununga and their powers of witch finding were impeccable which was not true.

He said such public posters, banners and radio messages were just peddling lies about Mununga and people should feel free to come and invest in his chiefdom so that even his subjects could learn some skills from the investors in order to develop his chiefdom.

And Dr. Katema said Traditional Leaders should play a critical role in the implementation of the social cash transfer scheme which he had gone to launch in the district.

He said the chiefs knew which people and households were most vulnerable in their chiefdoms hence the need for them to screen the lists of beneficiaries from the social welfare officers so that the most needy households were not left out on the list of beneficiaries.

He said the scheme he had come to launch will benefit the most vulnerable households because the government has realised that there was need to consider alleviating poverty among vulnerable households and persons especially in rural areas like Chienge.