Paul Nyathi|Zambian National Guidance and Religious Affairs Minister Godfridah Sumaili has said that she is disappointed by reports that some traditional leaders from a neighbouring Zimbabwe plan to carry out spiritual rituals at Kariba dam ahead of the rainy season.

Reverend Sumaili said that Zambia is a Christian nation and it is important that the country looks to God to provide the rains.

She said that people must not rely on the water spirit known as Nyami -Nyami which is believed to be found at Kariba dam.

Reverend Sumaili noted that the country should not embrace the Nyami -Nyami because it is an idol but should instead trust God for the rains.

Reverend Sumaili said this in an interview with ZNBC in Lusaka. She said she will engage the traditional leaders and the church in southern province over the matter.

Reverend Sumaili said the clergy should organize themselves to offer prayers.

Zimbabwean Traditionalists said that they believed that the receding of water at the Kariba DAM Hydro-electricity scheme is because the Nyaminyami Tonga god is still upset with the people for messing up his resting place. Should rituals be conducted to restore order and save the nation power deficiencies.

According to legend and local myths, the Tonga tribe in the Zambezi valley is protected by an ancestral spirit, locally known as Nyaminyami the river god.

Last year Chiefs from both sides of the Lake Kariba held special prayers, to plead with ‘Nyaminyami’ the river god not to harm construction workers during the Dam wall rehabilitation project.

Traditionalists feared that the Tonga god, believed to have been separated from his wife, during the initial construction of Lake Kariba in the 1950s could strike again, as the noise from blasting and lorries during the excavation works at the construction site may remind him of his spouse who is believed to be in the lower Zambezi river.