A United Zambia is Must!

To our citizens who are young at heart and the old generation who may not remember, we need to know how the Republic of Zambia came into being to enable us to understand our present political divergence in the country.

Before 1911 the territory currently known as Zambia was divided into two separate entities known as North-Eastern Rhodesia and North - Western Rhodesia.

Both territories were under British colonial rule.

The capital of North Eastern Rhodesia was at Fort Jameson (currently known as Chipata).

The Fort was established to defend the British ruled territory from other colonialists and hostile natives.

You may be interested to know that the "Policemen's language", commonly known as "Nyanja" originates from Fort Jameson.

It was developed as a dialect from the local languages of African tribes found in North-Eastern Rhodesia.

The capital of North Western Rhodesia was initially at Kalomo.

It was the first administrative centre of Northern Rhodesia, serving until the capital city was established at Livingstone in 1907.

The British colonial masters then merged the two into one territory know as Northern Rhodesia after 1911.

The capital of Northern Rhodesia was eventually moved to Lusaka.

You may be interested to know that the name "Lusaka" originates from a Chief who was found around there called Lusakasa , which the British abbreviated to Lusaka.

There is a school in Lusaka called Lusakasa which is named in honour of the Chief.

Northern Rhodesia and the neighbouring British ruled territories of Nyasaland (now Malawi) and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) were then merged into a Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

The administrative capital for this Federation was set at Fort Salisbury, later to be called Salisbury until independence in 1980 when Southern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zimbabwe when it was renamed Harare.

After the establishment of the Federation, there was resentment amongst the black nationals who were not happy with the way the wealth from the three territories were managed.

It was felt that most of the wealth from these territories was used to develop Southern Rhodesia more than the other two territories.

Salisbury became more developed than Lusaka and Blantyre (now Zomba) which was the capital of Malawi at independence. Even today this historic fact is still evident.

The capital of Malawi was later shifted to Lilongwe.

This brought about the call for the disbandment of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland by black nationalists (later to become the politicians) of these territories.

The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland came to an end in 1953.

Thereafter, the African nationalists in the three territories demanded independence  of these territories from British colonial rule.

This saw the independence of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland from British rule in 1964 to become the Republics of Zambia and Malawi respectively.

The white administrators in Southern Rhodesia did not want the country to be ruled by the native blacks, so on 11th November 1965 they declared UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) from British rule.

The UDI saw the begin  of a bitter 15-year guerilla bush war when the blacks in Southern Rhodesia , which was called Rhodesia after UDI, resorted to fighting the white rebels (under Ian Smith) from the bush.

This war affected the Republic of Zambia because the Freedom Fighters took refuge in the country and the rebels in Rhodesia used to bomb certain parts of the country in pursuit of the Freedom Fighters.

When the Liberation Centre was bombed by the white rebels in the 70s I was in Lusaka as a student at UNZA.

As students at UNZA we were conscripted into the Zambia National Service to go for military training in 1973 in order to protect the country from rebel attacks.

The UDI brought a lot of economic hardships to the Republic of Zambia in many ways.

The county was subjected to border closures, military attacks and siege by the white rebels in Rhodesia, the white Apartheid racist regime in South Africa and the Portuguese ruled territories of Mozambique and Angola.

Under the leadership of Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, who became the President of Zambia in 1964 (he was called Prime Minister then) the country managed to pull through these hardships.

This part of our history needs a separate writing about it!  

As stated earlier, North-Eastern Rhodesia and North -Western became Northern Rhodesia in 1911.

Northern Rhodesia was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland until 1953 when the Federation was disbanded due to African nationalist pressure.

Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia on 24th October 1964.

Now coming back to our present voting pattern in our Elections, you may notice that these are based on the historic basis of the two former British ruled territories of North-Eastern Rhodesia and North- Western Rhodesia.

A lot of people talk without knowing where we are coming from a Nation.

Ignorance is our greatest enemy today and if not checked it could lead to animosity in the country.

The Bible teaches us that: -

“My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.”

The challenge of our current political leaders is to keep the unity of this country so that it is not again divided as the British colonialists did before 1911 and it must remain a ONE ZAMBIA and a ONE NATION!

AMEN !!

REFERENCES :

For those who may be interested to read in detail about the history of our beloved country, you may get details from the links given below, from Libraries or research online, etc.

1) North - Eastern Rhodesia

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Eastern_Rhodesia

2) North- Western Rhodesia

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Western_Rhodesia

3)  Historical Atlas – The History of Zambia

      https://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/southafrica/haxzambia.html

Zambia's Political Metamorphism

I am appealing to fellow citizens, who are following the just ended Presidential and Elections’ results, posted from various sources on the Social Media, to take easy!

There is no need for one to stress oneself unnecessarily due to politics.

A number of people, who were close to me, have passed on or became unhealthy due to stress after an election.

Others, who were successful businessmen, who recklessly threw their wealth into campaigns and lost the elections, saw their businesses going under.

It took time for a few others that I know of, to be restored.

As individuals, we are just tiny elements of a much bigger body.

Our personal development should be of prime importance to us.

So why should one worry who rules us?

An election victory or defeat is not a permanent situation.

Political leaders come and go.

From 1964, when I was 11 years old, up to this year of 2016, when I am 62, Zambia had seen several major political changes as follows:-

  

a) 1964 Zambia attaining political independence from British white rule.

     A black man and a native of the country becomes the first Head of State.

b) 1972 - Zambia becoming a one party State after abolition of all opposition  

     political parties.  

c) 1991 - Zambia reverts back to multiparty democracy.

    The second Republican President voted into Office with a popular vote from

    an electorate fed up with 27 years of one party leadership.

d) 2001 - The third Republican President is voted into Office after a two term

    tenure in Office of the incumbent comes to an end.

    This is after a bid by him to go for a third term flops due to public pressure.

e) 2008 - Zambia losing its third Republican President in office through death.

     This is the first time that an incumbent President dies in Office and a fourth

     President is elected.

f) 2011 - a fifth President is elected into office.

     This is after being in the opposition for 10 years.

     The new President is from a third political party to rule the Nation since

     independence.

g) 2014 - Zambia losing its fifth Republican President in office through death.

     This is the second time that an incumbent President dies in Office and a  

     fifth President is elected.

h) 2015 - A sixth Republican President is voted into Office after the death of

      the fifth President.

      He wins the party presidency after a big wrangle amongst party leaders as

      ten of them vie for the post of party President.

      After a fiasco at the party’s Convention, this lasts several days in two

      camps, the current party President is elected amidst one of the greatest

      controversies witnessed at any party Convention in the country.

i) 2016 - Zambia goes to the polls again.

It must be noted that this is a time when the country's economy is at one of its lowest levels since attaining its political independence in 1964.

Will the country have its seventh Republican President from a new political party or will the sixth President going to continue with a depressed economy?

The challenge of the incoming Government is to turn around Zambia’s economy and see the country to achieve the Agenda for Sustainable Development by 2030 as per resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 25^th September, 2015.

Failure to do so will result in continued suffering of the citizens, especially the marginalized, such as the unemployed youths and women.

This is likely to bring increased political agitation and animosity.

The Bible tells us about earthly leaders as follows:-

• “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” ~ Romans 13:1

• “Jesus answered [speaking to Pilate], “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” ~ John 19:11

• “By me kings reign…” ~ Proverbs 8:15

• “…he removes kings, and sets up kings…” ~ Daniel 2:21

• “Then God removed Saul and made David their king…” ~ Acts 13:22

• “No one … can exalt themselves. It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.” ~ Psalms 75:6-7

• “…the Most High has power over human kingdoms. He gives them to whomever he wishes.” ~ Daniel 4:17

At the end of it all, the Almighty Lord will make the decision on who the next President of Zambia will be.

He has the final power to put leaders into and out of Office.

AMEN!!

Miles Sampa’s resignation might bring “Kafwafwa” in PF (By Chilufya Tayali – Facebook 29th October 2015)

I respect Miles though is one of the politicians I have never interacted with on a personal level but I have been watching him closely because he is young, energetic, ingenuity, courageous, generous, intelligent and ambitious. You would not fail to tell that he is in the early 40s when he is around and talking freely.


Miles has resigned in one of the most mature way in the history of Zambian Politics but that should not make the PF members comfortable and think it is business as usual like the way Hon. Chikwanda presented the 2016 budget.


The resignation of Miles is a challenge on the leadership of Edger Lungu to keep the PF intact otherwise he may soon me dancing around like a soldier on punishment with a sweet potato in his hands.


President Edgar Lungu should not read the beautiful resignation letter of Miles with naivety. The President should traverse the history, in terms of membership and vision, of the PF from the time when it was in opposition, when it wreathed power away from MMD, the time of Sata’s illness, after Sata’s death, what happened at Mulungushi Rock where both Miles and himself emerged as Presidents, then the court cases and reconciliations.


The January 2015 Presidential elections and results must also be considered in terms of the gap between Edgar and HH because that speaks volumes of what may happen next year depending on how the membership issue is handled between now and 2016 General elections.

I took my time to sniff around for reasons why Miles could have resigned; I have not spoken to him (Miles) personally because we have never interacted. Nonetheless, I can trust my well-placed sources.

Without dwelling on the details, I concluded that Miles feels side-lined by Edgar Lungu. My sources doubted if Miles has ever had a one to one meeting with the President since he took power. On the other hand Miles’ intelligence has revived to him that a number of reports has been going to the President about him but the President has never engaged him. I tried to check if Miles felt bad that he has not been appointed to full Minister but I was told that he never bothered about that.

If you look back to the attributes I gave Miles in the first paragraph and consider the events after Sata’s death, I think you would have cause to worry about the PF’s unity owing to the resignation of Miles despite of the beautiful letter he wrote to the President. The resignation with immediate effect must also give you a hint of the emotions behind this resignation.

Remember that Miles was crowned President by the so called cartel (according to Richard Sakala though I don't agree because these people hardly meet)


From my interactions with the PF which I tried to bring out in one of my articles entitled, “I am very upset with the PF today”, you will realize that Miles is not the only PF member feeling disgruntled. This is why I have suggested to the President to traverse the history of the PF and compare it to the current PF under his leadership.

I would be the first person to condemn President Edgar Lungu if PF remains the same, a year after Sata’s death, because life has to go on and change, just like the life of Sata had to change naturally even though one of my grieving brothers suspected foul play but in bemba we say “Uulila tabamucheba pakanwa” which simply means that don’t bother about what the grieving person says (I wish Kabimba knew that he would not be in court).

The issue of consideration or concern about the change of the PF after Sata is how the party is evolving. Where is the PF today, how is the PF and who is composed of this party today?

I always remember what my hero and mentor FTJ Chiluba said, when he changed from supporting Sata to RB, that politics is about benefits. Who is benefiting out of PF today? Where are the core members of the PF today?

I don’t like to beat about the bush, but Edgar has embraced a lot of new members in PF and given them good positions leaving out many old members who brought PF into power. It is also a fact that many of the people who actually campaigned heavily for Edgar Lungu himself, are not near him. The goal getters are on the peripheries while he has maintained the tired legs of Shamendas, Chikwandas, Kasondes, Nkandu Luos, Katemas and some other political interns like Mwanakatwes.

The party is also led by an administrator who I appreciate for his integrity but not mobilization but that should not worry you because Mumbi Phiri and Frank Bwalya will do the running.


President Edgar Lungu seems to have replaced the team that won him the cup with players from the losing teams who have not impressed the spectators in the past. But because he is the President he has powers to do it.

Anyway, I am not a PF member and I don’t need a job in PF or government otherwise I would have gotten that from Sata but many people in PF want to be recognized and if they are not, Edgar might have a batch of resignation letters that it might be difficult to be saved by a quick consent order with Davies Chama which saw Bridget Atanga into UPND.

Let me end with a quote from the Bible which our Church Elder HH likes "Where there are no Prophets, people get out of hand, but happy the one who follows commandments." (Prob 29:18).

And the Late Sata said that the PF government will lead the Country based on the 10 commandments!

CT/hmn

301015

Who is Responsible ?

Whenever an act of violence is committed in any part of our country, the first thing that one hears is a variety of opinions from various quarters of our society as to who may have been responsible for it.

As a child I was brought up in a place which was subjected to seasonal flooding.

One of the sports we used to enjoy, as children, was to swim and bathe in flooded pools of water.

This could go on for hours until when we were all exhausted. It was real fun!

The back side of this game was that of poor sanitation because the place of play was very far from any lavatory.

At times one of the children would, out of pressure, empty his bowels in the water. This was with the hope that no one would know who has done it!

Once the contents of the bowels were noticed floating on top of the swimming area, we would all quickly come out the water denouncing the "son of a cow" who has done such a despicable act of barbarism and insanity !

On many occasions the culprit would not be known, as we all came out of the water "very clean".

However, suspicion of guilt was always pointed to the younger boys in the group.

This often resulted in heated arguments, and at times, fist fights would ensue amongst us.

On one fateful day soon after being forced out of the swimming area, a heated argument was going on and a fist fight was about to take place.

Suddenly, to our amazement, one of the boys started emptying his bowels on dry ground!

We later learned that he had a bout of diarrhoea as a result of over eating of mangoes the previous day.

Remember this. 

Whilst the "Playing Ground" is wet for you it is easy to hide, but once it has dried out you will certainly be found out!

Getting the Best Out of a Bad Deal ?

In March 1986, whilst I was working as an electrical project engineer at Konkola Division of the then Zambia Copper Consolidated Mines Limited, I was sent for a six-month attachment with a British electrical utility company in the United Kingdom.

The attachment was part of a training programme in Electrical Power Distribution systems.

The training was sponsored by the World Bank as a way of strengthening the engineering skills of indigenous citizens of Zambia.

For accomodation the sponsors arranged for me to stay with a British couple as a paying lodger in their home.

I was staying with Mr. and Mrs. Munroe at their home. It was some four kilometers from a switchgear factory of a company called Northern Electrical Industries ( NEI) .The factory was located in a town called Hebburn, which is situated on the banks of the Tyne River.

Mr. Munroe had once worked as an expartriate at the copper mine in the Zambian Copperbelt town of Chingola around 1972.

My stay with the Munroe family is one of the most memorable time of my life. The couple, which was in their fifties, were very kind to me and I was treated like their own child. They had two grown children of their own who were by then grown adults who had their own homes.

On a typical Friday evening we used to go out for dinner at any one of the several social outlets found in the town of Hebburn.

One friday evening we went to one social outlet where we had dinner which was followed by taking of a few drinks.

A number of the Munroes' friends were interested to know more about Zambian life.

At time Zambia was under a one party system of Government.

One evening a certain man engaged me in a heated discussion when I told him about our "one party participatory democracy " in Zambia.

He told me point blank that the one party system of Government could not qualify to be called a "democracy".

I told him that when we had a multiparty system of Government we used to experience a lot of skirmishes between opposing political parties.

The skirmishes were generally between tribal or regional based opposing parties.

My support for the one party participatory democracy then was based on the fact that it had brought unity between the different tribes who have been bitter enemies for many generations.

The British man could not be convinced by this argument .

After about thirty minutes of a heated discussion he told me the following words which still linger in my mind.

"The problem with you Africans is you always choose the best option out of a bad deal. How can you call a one party dictatorship a democracy just because it has brought so called "unity " amongst you ?"

"The unity you are talking about is the unity to share poverty under despotic leaders"!

In our own lives we should not settle for anything that brings peace with the anybody else just to maintain the status quo of living in tranquility with them.

A troubled heart can not live in peace with anybody else apart from its owner.

Personal satisfaction can only be realised when an individual gets the best out of a good deal with anybody else!

Royality vs Loyality

Traditional leaders who allow themselves to be allies of certain politician parties do not understand their role in society.

Royality is an inborn right to reign over the subjects of a given chiefdom or kingdom.

The subjects have no choice as to who rules them. The royal establishment decides for them.

Traditional rulers, such as the current Litunga of Barotseland, who maintain their royal identity, should therefore be saluted.

Political loyality, on the other hand, is based on a personal preference for a party. This is shown by the support of the policies of that party.

In Zambia the unfortunate development is that political loyality is generally not based on principle. The "brown envelope" mentality has taken the centre stage of the political arena.

That's why we have witnessed a number of people drifting from one party to the other without shame.

A number of them have changed their political alliance to as many parties as the number of governments that have been in existence since independence.

Some critics refer to such people as political "prostitutes".
Subjects of traditional leaders have a right to belong to political parties of their own choice without external influence. This is in line with the multi-party system of the country.

If traditional leaders publicly show their support for any political party, they are unwittingly encouraging the following probems.

1) Their subjects will be divided between those who support their political alliance and those not supporting it.

At one time in the past, some traditional rulers accepted political posts such as Member of the Central Committee of a ruling party. This brought a lot of confusion in their areas.

2) They loose the respect of their subjects and hence undermine their birthright to reign over them.

It is therefore not befitting for any traditional leader to show solidarity with any political party.