People’s Tribunal

We, Nyanja chiefs, are sixth in command

Dear judge Mbadwa,
New Year greetings to you honourable judge Mbadwa. We chiefs of the Nyanja clan acknowledge that the past year was eventful in your court honourable judge. You presided over many cases and delivered justice without fear or favour. There were times that you allowed to have your holiday curtailed for the sake of justice. As custodians of tradition, especially that of the Nyanja people, we do acknowledge that your work ethic is beyond reproach.
Our writing to you on the day you should have been celebrating a brand new 2017 with your family has been motivated by a disturbing occurrence. There is one leader of a political party; of course this leader belongs to the Nyanja clan and he dresses himself in the garb of leader of opposition. This political leader, Lazaro, wants to take the shine off us chiefs of the Nyanja clan.
Lazaro and his party zealots have been on a campaign of throwing mud at Mapuya, the first in command. He says Mapuya or our benefactor is a specialist in failure and is dragging the country into the abyss of extreme poverty. We cannot just sit and watch Lazaro castigating Mapuya. Who does he think he is? As a Nyanja himself, he should know that there is a chain of command that has to be followed if he wants to exercise power.
My Lord, we believe he is being disrespectful to the Nyanja clan and the chiefs themselves.  In the country’s  governing hierarchy, we the chiefs of the Nyanja, as led by myself Paramount Chief  Zundu, are the sixth in command and Lazaro is not anywhere near the top 10. Why should he be allowed to be speaking in such gloating terms?  Isn’t his conduct tantamount to treason?
As the sixth in command—and you know who is fifth in command—we want Lazaro to be silenced by your honourable court. People should not also question where we are getting the mandate to speak about the opposition when our own mandate to speak on behalf of the Nyanja clan is questionable.
My Lord, nobody should tell me that I should first of all put my house or our house in order. I know most Nyanja chiefs show their allegiance to Gawo Uti, the supreme chief of Nyanja who resides in Northern Rhodesia. I might not have acknowledged Gawo Uti, but that doesn’t mean I do not have the mandate to call the chiefs together to dress down our own son. This has nothing to do with my allegiance to Gawo Uti.
Nobody should question our reading of the Chiefs Act because we believe we are empowered by that Act to take to task any opposition leader who censures government of the day.
My Lord, we understand we have lost a lot of clout following the shenanigans of the New Land Act. This is more reason that we have to side with Mapuya, hoping that he will come to his senses to bring back our lost glory. It is true that our voice is never considered nowadays as we are even sidelined when registering beneficiaries of Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp), but we had to find easy meat and Lazaro was the only available target in our pursuit to dance to the sad tunes of Mapuya.
My Lord, don’t you see that we are justified as chiefs to gather together to question the opposition and to look the other way when the government of the day is serving selfish interests?  We know where our bread is buttered My Lord.
We are sixth in command My Lord and we cannot allow our subject to take the shine off us My Lord. Find something by law we can use to muffle his voice once and for all. He is being a nuisance My lord.
Yours,
Zundu and other Nyanja chiefs who like appearing on television to clap hands for Mapuya. n

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