Senior Chief Mukumbi of the Kaonde-speaking people of North-Western Province has bemoaned the increasing heavy beer drinking among many women in Zambia.

And Senior Chief Mukumbi has further counselled wives against husband battering.

The traditional ruler addressed hundreds of women from around Kalumbila, Friday, with an appeal to them to drop the beer drinking culture, which he said was sudenning.

Speaking at Manyama Day Secondary School in Kalumbila, the chief said he and his two counterparts, Senior Chief Mumena and Senior Chief Musele, were concerned that instead of women being the source of inspiration for cultural preservation, many were championing bad practices, such as beer drinking.

“To all you, the women, the bad culture you have adopted today, such as beer drinking must come to an end! I am aware and it’s embarrassing to see in all our bars young girls and women competing for beer with all of us! If only we can change this trend, positively, then we will build a better Zambia,” Senior Chief Mukumbi lamented.

He also expressed concern that women had not taken advantage of the availability of easily accessible arable land in his chiefdom to engage in large-scale farming for their personal as well as national development.

The traditional leader challenged women in his chiefdom to own land and venture into serious farming.

“I am appealing to women present here today; this is your day, and we will support you in every good endeavour. It’s, however, unfortunate that I have never come across a woman in Chief Mukumbi accessing land to put up a big farm. We have vast land waiting for you to access; come and get it!” the traditional leader appealed.

Chief Mukumbi hailed men who turned up in numbers to show solidarity to the womenfolk as they marked the International Women’s Day.

“On a lighter note let me appeal also to the women folk not to beat up your men,” he added.

Senior Chief Mukumbi, a father of eight children, with five of them being women, boasted of having placed a high premium on women.

The event was heavily supported by Canadian mining giant Barrick’s Lumwana Mine.

– Story courtesy of SUMA SYSTEMS.