Maravi

(LUSAKATIMES) Minister admits calling for secession of Barotseland

Minister admits calling for secession of Barotseland
Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 8:36

MINISTER of Community Development and Social Services Michael Kaingu has admitted his involvement with shadowy groups calling for the secession of Western Province and sponsoring an illegal radio broadcast on Radio Lyambai in which alarming sentiments bordering on treason were aired.

Mr Kaingu, who has since been asked to leave the province by the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE), was named in an alleged secret operation to frustrate dialogue between Government and royalists over the Barotseland Agreement of 1964.

The member of Parliament for Mwandi constituency said his intention was to broker peace between the Linyungandambo, Barotse Patriotic Front and the Barotse Freedom Movement, who have been advocating the secession of the province.

Mr kaingu said he sent a group he called concerned citizens to broadcast messages to tell Government to withdraw police from Western Province because he did not believe the strategy of deploying them to maintain order was correct.

And two ministers, who declined to be named, have accused Mr Kaingu of dishing out over K170 million to members of the three secessionist groups in unclear circumstances.

The ministers said they are angry at the activities of Mr Kaingu and accused him of betraying the trust of the people of the region.

The Daily Mail on January 17 revealed that a named Cabinet minister has been implicated in a covert mission to cause confusion and frustrate the dialogue currently going on between Government and the BRE.

Mr Kaingu’s activities have also enraged the BRE, which has questioned the motive of the minister for calling meetings with people who have little understanding of the subject, apart from being critical of Government.

Mr Kaingu invited a group of so-called senior citizens to conduct a postmortem of the disturbances and violence which took place in Mongu and Limulunga which left two people dead.

The two ministers wondered how Mr Kaingu found himself in the region in unexplained circumstances and they wondered how he could have been tasked by President Banda to come to Mongu to broker peace between Government and the groups calling for secession, without alerting them.

One of the ministers said Mr Kaingu was seen with Mwilola Imakando, who has been engaged as a consultant on the Barotseland Agreement and with whom he met the senior citizens, some of whom were MMD members. The minister said Mr kaingu allegedly had K170 million which he was distributing to the people who attended the meeting.

When contacted, Dr Imakando confirmed having been in Mongu recently where he met Mr Kaingu.

Dr Imakando said people routinely ask for advice from him and he gives them his opinion. He said Mr Kaingu also asked for advice about what has been transpiring in Mongu and he equally gave the minister his opinion on the matter.

According to sources, most of the people who attended the meeting were members of the Patriotic Front (PF) and Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD). Mr Kaingu was accused of distributing the money to PF and ADD, an act that infuriated MMD members.

The sources said some indunas from Limulunga also expressed concern at the activities of Mr Kaingu.

“What Mr Kaingu is doing is very bad. In fact his presence in Mongu almost worsened matters because he sent people on radio calling for the withdrawal of the police.

In a tense situation, how can you be saying the police should withdraw? Even the BRE is very upset.

In fact, the BRE called and asked him to leave Mongu yesterday [January 17]. They told him to get out,” the source said.

One of the ministers said it is surprising that some members of opposition political parties were drawing money from a government minister.

He wondered why Mr Kaingu decided to engage people who are strongly against Government to discuss the Barotseland Agreement. Another minister said in a separate interview that he is disappointed with Mr Kaingu’s schemes to discredit Government and the BRE.

The minister said the group which featured on Radio Lyambai also called for the release of all the suspected supporters of secessionists.

“I listened to the radio and I am told the police have a full recorded programme. You cannot sponsor people talking like that as a government minister.

Those people were calling for the withdrawal of police and the release of those who were arrested. I wonder what kind of peace Mr Kaingu was referring to,” the minister said.

The minister said now that Mr Kaingu’s name has been mentioned, he must come out in the open and tell the nation what his mission was in Mongu.

But when contacted, Mr Kaingu said he was in Mongu to broker peace between Government and the people calling for secession.

Mr Kaingu said he is calling for the withdrawal of police because he is of the firm belief that police and soldiers cannot maintain peace. He said he was promoting dialogue between those who are fighting for secession and the removal of the Litunga.

Mr Kaingu said the presence of the police and some military personnel in Mongu and Limulunga is not the best solution to peace.

He accused the Daily Mail of working at destroying him, insisting that he will stand by his position that he is in Mongu to broker peace.

“What are you going to achieve by writing such a story? The police and soldiers will not bring peace in Mongu and Limulunga and that is why I was talking about dialogue. You want the police to continue shooting and killing the people? You are the one inciting violence in Mongu,” Mr Kaingu said.

When asked why he was told to leave Mongu on January 16, Mr Kaingu could not give proper reasons.

“You are trying to destroy me but all I want is peace. Actually it is only the President who can tell me what to do and not anyone else. You must apologise for writing such a story,” Mr Kaingu said.

On the K170 million distributed in Mongu, Mr Kaingu said there was no need to pursue that route because the money had nothing to do with the problems in Mongu and Limulunga.

He complained that the story has damaged his relations with the BRE and that he was working on correcting the situation.

Mr Kaingu said the problem in Western Province has been poverty and unemployment and that most of the youths had no forum to express themselves and that is why they took to the streets.
[Zambia Daily Mail]

Labels: BAROTSE FREEDOM MOVEMENT, BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, MICHAEL KAINGU, MMD

posted by MrK @ 8:01 AM