Senior Chief Puta of the Bwile people of Chiengi district in Luapula Province says he has stopped giving advice to politicians for fear of being labelled a sympathizer of either the opposition or the ruling party.

And chief Puta has wondered why today’s politicians insult each other without regard for their wives and children.

Meanwhile, MMD faction leader Felix Mutati has said the Church equally needs dialogue because it is divided.

Speaking when Mutati paid a courtesy call on him at his palace, chief Puta said traditional leaders are failing to advise both the ruling and opposition parties for fear of condemnation.

“As chiefs, this time we are even failing to give advice to you politicians because when you advise the opposition, others will condemn it. When you advise the ruling party, they will condemn you so we are fearing to advise because whatever you say will bring confusion and you will be labelled as a supporter of a certain party. So some of us have opted to be quiet and watch even when things are not good in the country. We are defined as chiefs…because we speak for the people and so if they don’t want us to speak to them, we have no choice but to watch. Please try to chance and stop politics of insults because you are dividing this nation. Insults won’t bring peace in this nation,” chief Puta told Mutati.

Meanwhile, the traditional leader said the behavior of some cadres in certain political parties will one day result in civil war.

“The behavior of the cadres in this nation is bad and this is how civil war started in Congo. Because in Congo, some people did not agree on certain issues and as a result, they started fighting [among] themselves. We started seeing people buying guns and all sorts of weapons and today as we are speaking, we have a lot of refugees from that Country. It is only this time…because of this new President who has said I want the ruling party and the opposition to work together,” said chief Puta.

“I remember what late [president Levy] Mwanasawa did where he appointed some opposition as leaders and in that way, [there] was peace and unity in the nation. But what we are seeing today remind me of late Daniel Mukombwe who at some point said ‘twakonkele ukulya’ so what we need to do is to embrace each other as politicians and accept the views of other political parties. So let these cadres be tamed before they bring civil war in this nation.”

And Mutati said politicians are not the only ones that need to dialogue but the Church too which he said was divided.

“As politicians, our call for the Church is that let them dialogue and speak with one voice in order to unite us politicians. Unless the Church is unified, it will be difficult to have any conversation with what is happening in the political circles of this nation. It is generally normal for politicians to be divided, maybe that is the nature of politics but I think it is unusual for the Church also to be divided. So the call is that the Church should pray for the politicians and also pray that the Church looks forward to its role as a unifier of people whenever they are faced with difficulties. They also need dialogue among themselves,” said Mutati.