CHIEFS RECONCILE POLITICAL CONTESTANTS

By PETER SICHALI and KETRA KALUNGA MUCHINGA Chiefs and Chief Cooma of Southern Province have called for reconciliation among aspiring candidates who have not been picked to contest in the upcoming elections and those who have been selected. The chiefs are also scheduled to hold a meeting to reconcile aspiring candidates that applied to contest for various political offices in the 2021 general elections. “We have planned for a meeting in which all those that aspired to contest for various political position will be called to reconcile because they are all our children,” Chief Mpepo said. Chief Mpepo said chiefs would ensure that those had not been adopted and those that had been adopted reconcile to spearhead development in various chiefdoms across the province. “We sat as chiefs in Muchinga Province to look at the adoptions by various political and ensure that they reconcile because they are all our children,” Chief Mpepo said. And Chief Mpepo said there was need for unity in political parties ahead of August 12 general elections. He said it was important for unsuccessful aspirants to accept the decision of the party and work with those that had been adopted. “It is not possible that all the aspiring candidates can be adopted at once. it is important for those that have been left out to accept and continue working for the better of their areas,” Chief Mpepo said. He advised those that aspired for various positions to continue working constituencies and not only re-appear in 2026. Chief Mpepo said people have now become observant and will only support those that will continue doing community despite not being adopted. And Chief Cooma has urged adopted candidates and those left out to work together for the good of the country. The traditional leader said those that have been left out of adoptions should embrace those adopted because they had the common interest of serving the Zambian people. He said in an interview that the those that have been left out should not hold grudges against the adopted candidate as doing so would be damaging not only to their political career but also to national development. “We want to see those adopted and those that have not been adopted to work together because there can only be one adopted candidate out of so many aspiring candidates,” he said. Chief Cooma urges the aspring candidate that have been left out to remain loyal to their respective political parties.