By Staff Writer, Lusaka
Former Finance Minister, Ng'andu Peter Magande in the Mwanawasa led government has shared his memoir in which he highlights that despite his family facing financial challenges, he continued to do well in class.
Mr Magande reveals that his family struggled to have money ready for his school fees each year.
“I recall many times when they sold
not only the eggs but the chicken as well to raise the
required amount. A few times, I remained at the school
during the short holidays to do some piece work and earned
a little pocket money. However, in Standard VI, I got a
government scholarship for good performance,” he says.
He recalls that the ANC and UNIP formed a coalition Government after the
elections in 1962.
“Kaunda became Minister of Local
Government and Social Welfare and Nkumbula was
appointed Minister of Education. The firebrand Mungoni
Liso, who was parliamentary secretary for education and a
member of the ANC, visited our school during the year and
gave a fiery speech, in which he assured us that political
independence was on the way.
Mungoni Liso prodded us to concentrate on our studies so
that we would become the competent manpower that would
propel a politically independent Zambia to economic
prosperity. He informed us that a Lazarus Cheelo from
Mapangazya area had just completed his degree studies at
the University of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in Salisbury
(Harare), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). We were most
encouraged by this news of the success of a local boy, who’d
graduated from a university,” explains Mr Magande.
Mr Magande adds that the new coalition Government introduced a programme of
interchanging students amongst the provinces and schools
in order to foster national unity.
“At Chikankata, we received
three ‘foreign’ boys, namely Wisdom Chanda, Isaac
Mambwe, and Joseph Mwale from outside the province. The
boys were subjected to heavy bullying and mocking,
especially since they could not understand nor speak Tonga,
the local language. I took a personal interest in trying to
protect them as I was interested in the ciBemba language,
which I had never heard before.
Joseph Mwale happened to be a son of Dr Siteke Gibson
Mwale. At the time, little did I know that Joseph’s father’s
path and mine would cross some forty-two years later.
When Dr Mwale was appointed as Zambia’s representative
to the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region
(ICGKR) in 2005, I worked with him to operationalize his
office and to establish the Regional Centre for Democracy
and Good Governance, later renamed the Levy Mwanawasa
Centre for Governance in Lusaka.
Many students came from various schools and
denominations in the province. Amongst them was Rueben
Kapaale, meaning the ‘smart one’, who came from the
Namwianga Mission of the Church of Christ in Kalomo
District. Geoffrey Hamayobe nicknamed the tall handsome
boy ‘Tallman’. By his noticeable height of over two metres,
he could have easily qualified for a position in any
basketball team.
Kapaale turned out to be very knowledgeable of not only
local political issues but also the American situation. This
could have been because of the exposure by the American
missionaries who were running the Namwianga Mission. He
broke the sad news of the assassination of President
Kennedy to the students during lunch, which we abandoned,
as we openly wept. He literally recruited most of us into
politics and we would be glued to the small radio placed in
the dining room at news time. Although much older than
me, I spent a lot of time with Kapaale discussing diverse
issues,” he explains.
He further explains that in December 1963, they sat for examinations after only six
months of learning in Form II because the new Government
changed the school timetable to follow the Gregorian
calendar.
“This being a final class at the time, there was a lot
of apprehension and fear amongst the students on the
possibility of failing in view of the shortened learning time.
At the end of the school year, I won a prize of an English
dictionary as the ‘Most Progressive Student in Form II’.
When I went home for holidays, I discussed the matter of
my future plans with my parents. As they were unaware of
the different professions or careers in the modern world,
they could not give me any guidance on careers. I told them
that I wanted to be a surveyor and the entry requirement for
the course being Form V, I will have to leave Chikankata for
some other senior secondary school out of Mazabuka
District. They were agreeable to my future plans as I was a
pioneer in the family and any career of my choice was
welcome.
When I visited Chikankata Secondary School to check for the
examination results, I was informed that because of my
good scores, the results were referred to the provincial
education office for redeployment. I waited for some weeks
before word came through the teachers at Namaila School
that I had been accepted at the Munali Secondary School in
Lusaka. My family and teachers were overjoyed with my
achievement and I became a celebrity in the whole of
Namaila as Munali was a famous national school.
I went to Chikankata Secondary School to collect my
acceptance papers. I was informed that Arthur Bbuku,
Geoffrey Hamayobe, Sandford Mweemba, and Rueben
Kapaale had also been accepted at Munali. I learnt that
Irene Kaumba had done well and was accepted at the girls’
national Chipembi Secondary School in Chisamba, Central
Province.
I was delighted that my close friends Arthur and Geoffrey
had also made it to Munali and we’d continue to be
together. I went to lodge at Geoffrey’s home for the weekend
so that we could plan our first trip out of our homeland”, shares Mr Magande.
Mr Ng'andu Peter Magande is an economist, served as the Minister Of Finance and National Planning of the Republic of Zambia from 2003 to 2008.
He served as a Member of Parliament for Chilanga Constituency from 2006 until 2010 and the Chairman of the MMD Party Committee on Economy
and Finance.
No comments:
Post a Comment