Yao groups clash
A Yao tribal group, Ndamo sya Yao, has said it will proceed with its activities despite plans by their tribesmen to form Chiwanja cha Yao, believed to have linkages to the leadership of the ruling People’s Party (PP).
But an interim chairperson of the yet-to-be-formed ethnic group, Alhaj John Likonde, said in an interview yesterday that their plans to form Chiwanja cha Yao are at an advanced stage and there is no turning back.
Likonde said the two groups are different and may have different missions, explaining that Chiwanja cha Yao means a group of Yaos whereas Ndamo sya Yao means the culture of Yaos.
He dismissed as untrue suggestions that his group has links to the ruling elite, especially the alleged proposed patron, President Joyce Banda, arguing this is a ploy to run away from the real issue.
Likonde said his group is in a process of engaging a lawyer to guide and help them to have the group registered.
Likonde, a Lilongwe-based businessperson, said he was invited by chiefs in the Eastern Region who asked him to help them form the group, dismissing as false suggestions that the government machinery was involved in the formation of the group.
Chairperson of the Ndamo sya Yao, Steve Shaban, said in an interview yesterday it was unfortunate that their tribesmen have plans to set up a parallel Yao group when theirs is a duly registered ethnic Yao group, with a mission to preserve the Yao culture across the nation.
Shaban said his group, which was registered in 2012 with government, has tried on several times to meet the President to brief her of the existence of the group but in vain.
He said: “We have tried different channels to meet the President including her adviser on religious affairs Reverend [McDonald] Sembereka and her ADC [aide-de-camp], but it did not work until now when we are hearing of plans by our friends to form Chiwanja cha Yao.”
The Ndamo sya Yao chairperson said should the other group insist and proceed with formation of the new Yao group, Chiwanja cha Yao, his group would respect their decision but they would not disband their duly registered group.
Shaban said: “It will mean we will have two Yao groups, which of course does not make sense. But we will have no choice but to maintain our group.”
When the former president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika, was alive, some members of the Ndamo sya Yao asked former first lady Callista Mutharika to be the group’s patron, but it did not happen.
Shaban said those were individual suggestions, including from the late Paramount Chikowi, but the plans did not work. He said as a group, it never made such decisions.
