Freedom fighters have been neglected - Sikota
Freedom fighters have been neglected - SikotaBy Bivan Saluseki
Monday June 09, 2008 [04:00]
VETERAN politician Sikota Wina yesterday said Zambia’s freedom fighters have been neglected. Wina said it was unfortunate that Zambia had failed to address the issue of freedom fighters despite the country having been among the early pioneers of freedom.
Last Thursday, the public service committee of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) failed to agree on whether freedom fighters should be paid benefits for their role in the liberation struggle.
Committee chairman Likolo Ndalamei ruled that the matter of benefits for freedom fighters could not be addressed by the Constitution but political leaders.
However, Wina said most people in the country were deeply disappointed by the ‘cavalier’ manner with which the public service committee of the NCC avoided the question of benefits for former freedom fighters for their role in the liberation struggle, leaving it to surviving individual freedom to organise themselves and lobby the country’s political leadership.
“It’s unfortunate that this country which paid a heavy price for the liberation of surrounding countries has failed to emulate the manner in which these countries have handled the issue of benefits for their freedom fighters.
They did not leave this to ‘individual freedom fighters who are alive to negotiate for their benefits’ but their Parliament passed legislation for those who had sacrificed for their countries to be free and even erected cenotaphs in their memory, while in Zambia ministers announce with pride the progress being made in the construction of mansions for former presidents and other general benefits,” Wina said. “Zambians have forgotten that in every province of this country, there can still be found men and women who, but for their courage and sacrifice, this country could not have been liberated.”
Wina said freedom fighters were suffering without any help in sight.
“These men and women now face desperate struggle for survival and too old to fend for themselves or their offspring,” he said.
Wina said with a budget running into hundreds of millions of kwacha, NCC could have afforded to carry out a detailed study of how other countries had handled that matter and arrived at a satisfactory solution.
“It is an insult to these men and women without whose sacrifice some of those sitting on the NCC would not have enjoyed benefits of free education which made them what they are today in society,” Wina said. “While President Mwanawasa can be commended in the manner he has honoured many of these freedom fighters including myself, it’s obvious that most of them are emaciated and demoralised by years of neglect.”
Wina said it was a duty of all those on the NCC to ensure that the matter was reviewed and looked at much more deeply.
“It is only in this manner that the country will take the NCC seriously instead of viewing it as a money-making machine for a few. Some people like honey without knowing how that honey was made,” said Wina.
Labels: FREEDOM FIGHTERS, SAKWIBA SIKOTA
posted by MrK @ 3:31 AM
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