By Austin Kaluba –

When George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) who was an American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist at the University of Chicago made this statement, he knew for sure the importance of unity in a diverse society like America.
America, whose aborigines are red Indians has been populated by several world nationals becoming a melting pot of nationalities, cultures and a myriad of ethnicities.
Likewise, in a diverse society that Zambia is, it is understandable for people who occupy different ethnic positions in society to have different interests, share different sets of rules and values to interpret the world.
It is this consideration that prompted the first Republican President Kenneth Kaunda to moot the idea of national unity as a means to keep the young nation from falling apart.
The Government has made citizens observe Unity Day on Tuesday, July 7, 2015 to help foster solidarity between the diverse ethnic groups that make up the country we call Zambia.
This was in addition to the slogan “One Zambia, One Nation” now being revisited on the nation’s broadcaster the Zambia National Broacasting Corporation (ZNBC) which is starting every TV news broadcast with the unitary catch phrase.
The One Zambia, One Nation unitary slogan should be part of our society in reminding us that we can have unity in diversity.
We should always acknowledge the fact that the country we call Zambia comprises different ethnic groupings which calls for  conscious effort by all stakeholders to uphold unity in diversity.

• Former president Kenneth Kaunda sing ‘Tiyende pamodzi’ a unifying song.

Kaunda’s successors blinked to this reality allowing the seed of tribalism and regionalism to germinate and blossom subterraneanly as evidenced by the just-ended presidential elections.
When a youthful 40 year old Kaunda ascended to power, he wrongly thought everything was well after wrestling power from the British colonial masters.
He was in for a rude shock when he later realised he was sitting on a shaky throne because of tribalism and regionalism which were older than the Zambia he had created.
This came to the fore in the UNIP convention in 1968 when a coalition of Bembas and Tongas joined hands to defeat a merger of Nyanja and Lozi politicians.
It was then that it dawned on the young political leader that tribalism was as real as the Mosi-Oa-Tunya falls forcing him to introduce tribal balancing, enhancement of the One Zambia, One Nation slogan and suppression of all divisive tribal sentiments including multipartism that encouraged tribal alliances.
However, his successors Frederick Chiluba, Levy Mwanawasa, Rupiah Banda and the late Michael Sata failed to address the issue of tribal balancing well leading to accusations of state-sanctioned tribalism.
In a provincial bid to de-Kaundalise and de-Unipise Zambia, Chiluba discarded tribal balancing in favour of what he called ‘appointments based on merit.’
He was to learn the hard way when his appointments of several people from the Bemba ethnic grouping to head government and parastal institutions led to accusations of tribalism.
The third republican president Levy Mwanawasa, a Lenje who came to power in  the 2001 elections,  was accused of aligning himself too much to the Bantu Botatwe ethnic grouping.
The same accusations were lumped on Banda and Sata. In short, Zambian citizens are now hypersensitive to appointments by any newly-sworn in president.
This is the suspicion the sixth president Edgar Lungu is inheriting thus his call for the nation to unite considering the fact that Zambia emerged from the just-ended presidential elections divided along ethnic line.
Speaking during interdenominational thanks giving mass for the peaceful elections at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross recently, President Lungu said Zambia will remain a Christian nation, an ambitious declaration that calls on the church to uphold Christian tenets among them,  uniting the nation.
President Lungu called on the church in the country to play a role in uniting the nation by stamping out tribalism and violence.
The ethnic division should be nipped in the bud considering that Zambia recently celebrated 50 years of Independence, still garlanded in the laurels of being an African icon of relative political peace and stability. This is no mere achievement considering that it is a country that is a mosaic of 72 tribal groups which in normal circumstance could be a sign of vulnerability that could spell tribal unrests and political instability.
However, for half a century the country has enjoyed self rule by not only managing to maintain relative cohesion among the 72 tribes, but also inculcating a culture of nationhood to a large extent where all these tribes have confidence in the governance system.
Zambia is really a citadel of unity bearing in mind that in the 50 years the country has been peaceful, other nations in the continent continue to quarrel incessantly among themselves.
Among the fertile grounds for strife is warring on which tribe must rule, fighting over national wealth which can ultimately lead a country to a civil war.
Another testimony that Zambia is a bastion of political peace and stability is the number of refugees the country has haboured numbering over a quarter a million since the 1960s.
However, like in any other society under the sun, this is not to say there has been no strife that if unbridled could have blown this country to pieces.
After independence the divided interests surfaced through multiparty politics that different ethnic groupings used to champion their tribal causes under the guise of democracy.
Fortunately, these were quickly harnessed sometimes through use of draconian methods. Nevertheless what is important is that the end justified the means.
What is also important to note is that some of the disunity in the country is a carry over that has been anchored on the sixth president.
Fortunately, he is handling the issue well as observed by Alliance for Better Zambia (ABZ) president Frank Bwalya who,  speaking on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Radio 2 breakfast recently,  hailed President Lungu for demonstrating political will to unite Zambians and give them a new constitution.
Coming back to the issue of regionalism in the voting pattern, the ill has been part of the Zambian political history.
The only difference is that in the just-ended elections it was more pronounced. Having said this, all is not lost because there are several measures that can be made to ensure the country is not derailed from being a unitary state where different ethnic groupings have lived in harmony.
The media is one institution that can help quell this ill desisting from reporting divisive stories that can divide the country along ethnic lines.
The clergy is another institution that can also play a unitary role taking into account that the establishment of this entity bears a mark of tribal and regional base, a legacy of the church growth in Zambia.
Since children are the future generation, there is also need to inculcate a sense of Zambian-ness in young ones to enable them realise that the country is more important than the tribe.
Fighting a scourge like tribalism and regionalism calls for concerted effort from all stakeholders if we are going to soar like an eagle and live up to the slogan of One, Zambia, One Nation.