We are humbled by President Edgar Lungu’s call for Zambians to refrain from tribal talk and hate speech which has characterised the political landscape.
We are further heartened by the Head of State’s directive to all Patriotic Front (PF) members to stop issuing statements on tribalism.
What is interesting is that here is a man acting as a referee for a problem that he only inherited from his predecessors.
Shortly after independence, first Republican president Kenneth Kaunda realised that the fight against tribalism was just as tough as the battle against colonial rule that he had overcome.
Zambia at that time was divided along tribal lines, with many citizens harbouring entrenched negative stereotypes about other tribes.
At that time, politics was rife with tribalism that determined which party one supported, leading to the banning of all political parties in favour of the one-party system of government.
Here we are again sleeping, walking into an era of tribal politics that is mocking both our Bantu speaking people heritage and the One Zambia, One Nation unitary slogan.
Like President Lungu has demonstrated, tribalism needs to be checked at all times since even what sociologists call positive ethnocentrism has the capacity to overlap to negative ethnocentrism that can lead to rivalry and confrontation.
Examples of unbridled tribal expression abound in Africa, a classic one being the Rwandan genocide, which President Lungu has cited in his warning.
In Kenya, it is the Kikuyu/Luo tribal rivalry, in South Africa it is the Xhosa/Zulu showdown, while in Zimbabwe it is the Shona /Ndebele competition.
In other parts of Africa, unless harnessed, tribal tensions are always looming in the peripheral, straining the fragile unity of any country.
As the English say, a stitch in time saves nine; if addressed, tribal conflicts can give a country a time of calm to deal with its tribal problems.
However, this squarely depends on whether politicians learn to do so. Our president has expressed his stance on tribalism.
It is up to other leaders to follow suit and tame their followers who are using the tribal card to woo supporters.
If we are not careful, everything this country has laboured for, for half a century of independence, can be destroyed by the instability inherent in tribalism.
We should not be complacent about the peace in Zambia since examples elsewhere, including neighbouring countries, demonstrate how tribalism can suddenly take hold of an African country and blot out all else.
Why then are some leaders not making any effort to harness the roller coaster of tribalism like President Lungu has done?
These leaders are instead fuelling tribal sentiments, forgetting that even most of our forefathers respected other tribes, since they also lived in tribal societies that respected authority.
Now that the President has spoken, it is up to other political leaders to add their voices to this important subject that threatens our existence and shared heritage.
Keeping quiet would be misconstrued as supporting tribalism.