The weekend brought two ministers to two chiefdoms with a speech from the President in hand. On Saturday 31 October, at the 2026 Ikubi Lya Malumbe ceremony of Chief Chibuluma in Mumbwa District, held under the theme of culture helping to accelerate development, Minister of Tourism Princess Kasune argued that ceremonies are an economic asset as much as a cultural one. The Times of Zambia reported on Sunday 1 November that she linked the occasion to the government's target of five million tourist arrivals and called for closer partnership between government, traditional leaders and communities in pursuit of the Grow Zambia Agenda.
Our cultural heritage is not only a source of identity and pride, but also an important resource for advancing development.
— Princess Kasune, Minister of Tourism, at the Ikubi Lya Malumbe ceremony in Mumbwa on Saturday 31 October, as reported by the Times of Zambia
Kasune used the platform to list what the state has built in Chibuluma Chiefdom: an outpatient block at Kabalwa, a maternity annex at Nakanjoli and a staff house at Chipa; classroom improvements and desks; a 60,000-litre solar-powered water scheme at Chibolyo and eight boreholes at Chibolyo and Nalusanga; two communication towers awaiting commissioning; and three irrigation schemes funded through the Constituency Development Fund in the Mumba, Mulendema and Chibuluma chiefdoms, which she said would benefit more than 500 people through 18 cooperatives. She urged women and young people to take up the opportunities on offer.
At Guta Mweenze
In Kazungula District, the Guta Mweenze ceremony of Chief Nyawa heard the President's message read by the Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Mancel Ameleki, the Times of Zambia reported on Monday 2 November. The speech asked traditional leaders to champion national unity behind the Grow Zambia Agenda, the government's five-year programme, and warned, in a line the paper quoted, that Zambia cannot be grown in a divided society. It also addressed a grievance familiar at such gatherings: administrative delays holding up the construction of chiefs' palaces. The President committed the government to completing them and said no chief would be left without decent accommodation.
Chief Nyawa's reply, delivered through his prime minister, Gideon Siappenda, thanked the government for development programmes that he said had improved his subjects' livelihoods. The same report noted the President's own message for the start of November, posted on Facebook on Sunday 1 November, which quoted Amos 3:3, asking whether two can walk together unless they are agreed, and called for the country to move in faith, unity and love.
Sources: Times of Zambia, “Kasune calls for cultural heritage to drive tourism growth” (1 Nov 2026); Times of Zambia, “President Hichilema urges unity, peace and love among Zambians” (2 Nov 2026).