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Compensate Siyoto for amputated leg - Inonge

Compensate Siyoto for amputated leg - Inonge
By By Mwala Kalaluka
Sun 27 Mar. 2011, 04:01 CAT

PF national chairperson Inonge Wina yesterday said the government should take full responsibility for the 30-year-old man whose leg was amputated in the aftermath of the Mongu police shootings.

And the wife of Davison Siyoto, whose right leg was amputated last Friday as a result of police shootings during the January 14, 2011 Barotseland Agreement confusion in Mongu, says their future has been shattered.

Wina, in an interview shortly after she visited Davison who is admitted to Ward G21 at University Teaching Hospital UTH in Lusaka, said Siyoto was extremely depressed over what had happened to him.

“He is extremely depressed and he needs a lot of counselling. His father had trained him to be a driver and indeed he was doing well as one. The young man was basing his future career prospects on driving but now he has been disabled in this manner,” Wina said. “I was encouraging him to be positive about the future inspite of his condition and I pray to God that He guides him.”

Wina said Davison was in the state he was in because of the acts of brutality perpetrated by the police in Mongu on unarmed youths on January 14, acts which were also repeated in Mazabuka in the Southern Province.

“Such acts of brutality should be condemned by all peace-loving Zambians...the future of this young man is at stake. That is why the government should take steps to halt this unwarranted brutality before things get out of hand,” Wina said. “In the case of Siyoto, the government should take full responsibility for what has happened to him and he should be compensated for the loss of his leg. He should further be trained in a skill which will help secure his future.”

Wina said the shooting victim's uncle, Mubita Siyoto informed her that the family was grateful to the great love that his nephew's wife, Namboo, had demonstrated during the entire period of Davison's predicament.

Wina also visited National Revolution Party president Cosmo Mumba who is admitted in the same ward.
And in an interview at her husband's bedside yesterday, 20-year-old Namboo Siyoto said the amputation of her husband's leg was devastating.

“I have been hurt over my husband's amputation because this is not the way he was when I married him,” Namboo said. “I was not there when he was shot but all I know is that the police were shooting.”
Namboo said their future prospects had been disrupted because Davison would not be able to do the things that he used to for the family following the loss of his leg.

“We used to afford to pay rentals but now it will not be possible because the leg is now gone,” Namboo said. “If possible other women could help me with money to start a business.”

Namboo said even her stay at UTH to attend to her husband's problem had been a very difficult experience.

“I have just been staying at UTH since I came here in Lusaka,” she said.

“We have no money and we only feed from the food that the hospital provides to the patients. We don't even have the money to buy the artificial leg for my husband.”

Namboo and Davison have been married for two years.

And Mubita Siyoto, 60, of Mongu's Mulambwa Compound said what his nephew was undergoing was heart wrenching.

Mubita said his nephew's condition was the genesis of a very difficult phase for someone who was self-sustaining.

“My child was not like this,” said Siyoto. “He was normal, but now he is permanently maimed.”
During the Mongu fracas, two people were shot dead and several others were injured whilst another took his life out of fear of a police arrest.

Vice-President Kunda last month in Parliament justified the killings of two people and the use of live ammunition by the police in Mongu, saying police officers are allowed to use firearms in exceptional circumstances.
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Labels: BAROTSE FREEDOM MOVEMENT, INONGE WINA

posted by MrK @ 4:30 AM