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Jethro Mukenge Mutti (born 03 May 1934), is a retired Zambian politician who between the years 1964-1975 served as Member of Parliament, Ambassador, Minister and Member of the Central Committee under the ruling party UNIP led by Kenneth Kaunda. Not in favour of the "one party democracy" policy adopted by UNIP, Jethro Mutti resigned from office in April 1975 to become a business man. A few months after his resignation in September 1975, he was involved in a serious road traffic accident which left him with severe spinal injuries. He was transferred from the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka and flown to Lodge Moor Hospital, Sheffield, UK for specialist treatment. After 6 months of treatement and rehabilitation at Lodge Moor hospital he returned to Zambia beginning to begin life as a tetraplegic.

Early life and education background
Jethro Mukenge Mutti was born in 1934 at Kaba Hill Mission located near Luampa inBarotseland a protectorate of Northern Rhodesia. He was educated at Luampa Mission Primary School, Mankoya Upper School and Kambule Secondary School located in Barotseland. After his secondary school education, he worked as a clerk for the Northern Rhodesia Public Works Department (PWD) from 1956 - 1960. Mutti first became active in politics in the late 1950's much to the displeasure of the colonial authorities who tried to have him removed from the area.

Independence struggle
In 1960 he resigned from his job at PWD to join UNIP as a full time party organiser in Barotseland (now Mongu). The Northern Rhodesia colonial ruling authorities who were hostile to UNIP organisers in Barotseland attempted to have him “deported” from Barotseland but he defied the order. He was arrested, charged and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, but won an appeal in Lusaka after serving the sentence for only two weeks. He continued as UNIP organiser in Mongu after the ban against the party was lifted in 1962. In the general elections held in January 1964 in which Northern Rhodesia saw its first majority black parliament,Jethro Mutti was elected MP for Mankoya (now Kaoma) representing UNIP. In May 1964 he was part of a delegation representing Zambia at the second OAU Summit in Cairo.

After independence
Jethro Mutti's first appointment to the newly formed Zambian government after independence on 24th October 1964, was as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Information Postal Services, serving under Lewis Changufu who was minister. in 1967 he was appointed ambassador to Ethiopia. In 1968 he briefly returned to Zambia to stand for a parliamentary seat in Livingstone in the 1968 presidential and general elections which he subsequently won. The Livingstone seat had previously been held by Mainza Chona (UNIP) who in the 1964 general elections had held the seat on the on that seat by the lowest majority of 483. Fearful that the Livingstone seat would be lost to ANC, UNIP asked Mutti to stand for the Livingstone seat instead while Chona was sent to Mutti’s former Kaoma constituency which Mutti had comfortably won in 1964. In 1969 he returned to Zambia from Ethiopia, to take up office as Minister of State for Rural Development. In April 1969, during his parliamentary maiden speech Mr Mutti caused an uproar in parliament when he called on Zambian Ministers to give up their luxury cars, claiming that Zambian Ministers were the highest paid in Africa. He was heavily barracked by UNIP members during the course of his speech. The president intervened and reprimanded Mr Mutti for his “anti-UNIP attitude”. He was asked to apologise and withdraw his remarks which Mr Mutti refused to do. A few days later he announced he was resigning as MP & Minister of State but Mr Mutti rescinded his decision after being asked to stay on by supporters in his constituency and other supporters.

The Second Republic
Jethro Mutti he was elected as a Member of the Central Committee (MCC) Zambia’s Second Republic which was inaugurated on 1 January 1973, with the adoption of a new constitution centred on a "one-party participatory democracy". Jethro was known for his opposition to the practice of a one party state politics which he challenged but was obliged to tow the line. In 1974 he was re-elected to the central committee but was increasingly unhappy about how the country was being run as a one party state and dictatorship intolerant of any opposition or differing opinions. In April 1975, he resigned from government and UNIP unhappy with how the country was being run.

After Retirement
In September 1975, Jethro was involved in a serious road traffic accident which left him with C5 spinal cord injuries. He was transferred from UTH to Lodge Moor Hospital, Sheffield for specialist treatment. After six months of treatment and rehabilitation he returned to Zambia as a tetraplegic. Supported and cared for by his wife, Masiliso who worked full time as a matron at UTH, Jethro started rebuilding his life at the family home in Lusaka.

He remained active, interested and involved in Zambian politics. Between 1980 to mid 1990s he painstakingly used one finger on a typewriter to write numerous letters to the local newspapers voicing his opposition to the one party state leadership. Most of these letters were never published as the media was controlled by the then ruling party UNIP, but a few saw their way through. Undeterred Mr Mutti begun to write his memoirs using his typewriter.

Jethro Mutti advocated political pluralism in Zambia and was consulted by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) party leader Frederick Chiluba during the campaign for Zambia to change and and become a multiparty state. In October 1990, he was nominated for a state honour by President Kenneth Kaunda which he rejected in protest against what he said was “the degeneration of Zambian politics into a personality cult centred around the President under a one-party state”. Mr Mutti was one of 54 politicians past and present to have been honoured by President Kaunda on African Freedom Day investiture ceremony. He was to have been bestowed with the order of the grand companion of freedom third division. In a newspaper interview reporting on his rejection of the state honour Mr Mutti publicly  offered his support to MMD stating “ I may be physically handicapped but I am mentally sound  and can stand, shout slogans and address a public rally for hours”.

In 1990 he testified before the constitutional commission which was receiving submissions on the mode of constitution adoption for Zambia suggesting that parliament rather than the president should invoke the state of emergency to avoid the abuse of power by any individual in leadership. In the run up to the 1991 elections, along with his wife Masiliso, he campaigned at MMD rallies rallying support for MMD candidate at his first constituency in Kaoma which by now was divided into three constituencies (Kaoma Central, Mangango and Luampa).

On September 19, 1991, he wrote an open letter to President Kaunda published in the Weekly Post calling for the removal of UNIP political appointees from the country’s administrative arms as a prelude to the creation of a suitable atmosphere necessary for conducting free and fair multi-party elections. On October 31, 1991 the MMD party came into power with a landslide victory over UNIP and Kenneth Kaunda who had ruled Zambia since 1964.