SENIOR Chief Mwamba of Northern Province has wondered why ministers and members of parliament get a higher pay than chiefs, stating that the K11,500 which senior chiefs get per month is not enough.
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In an interview with #Kalemba yesterday, Chief Mwamba lamented that in the past, chiefs were highly respected unlike the case today.
He said government should increase the K11,500 for senior chiefs and the K10,000 for ordinary chiefs in order to spur development.
The traditional leader expressed shock that ministers and MPs are held in higher regard than chiefs, when the latter interact with their communities more directly and frequently.
“A long time ago, chiefs were respected. Why should ministers and MPs be respected more than chiefs when we are the ones who elected them? Ministers are given houses and cars but we chiefs are not respected. We were only respected a long time ago,” he complained.
“We only get K11,500. Why are we being taken for granted? We applied that our allowances be increased but it’s been quiet. At first they told us they will do so once they finished building chiefs’ palaces but it’s been quiet.”
The senior chief explained that people in chiefdoms no longer work for traditional leaders for free because of the allowances given to chiefs.
“They say that we get paid a lot of money so why should they work for us. But these people don’t know that the money we get is too little,” he lamented.
“And we also have people who seek monetary help from us. We have funerals and other events or activities, all these we help using our money.”
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, August 21, 2025
