Don’t lose hope, Sata urges Barotse youths

Don’t lose hope, Sata urges Barotse youths
By George Chellah
Sun 20 Mar. 2011, 04:02 CAT

PF leader Michael Sata says time has come to bring the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 to an amicable conclusion and has urged Barotse youths not to lose hope. And Sata says PF had taken a stand on the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) and will fight to the bitterest end if necessary. Meanwhile, PF also launched its 2011-2016 manifesto.

Opening the PF Lusaka provincial conference at Garden Hotel, Sata said PF believed that the intentions of the founding fathers and mothers in negotiating and signing the Agreement were to foster unity among all people of Zambia and to create the unitary state of Zambia.

“It is our hope and prayer that this can still be the same spirit motivating all parties to the discourse on the Barotseland Agreement of 1964. Time has perhaps come that this matter be brought to an amicable conclusion. Again we emphasise that dialogue be encouraged to analyse what issues are outstanding in the implementation of the agreement and a lasting solution agreed within the context of our modern times,” he said.

He said PF acknowledged that the Western Province was the poorest province in the whole of Zambia.
“We therefore call on government to not only bring about meaningful development to the Western Province but also manage perceptions that the province is being sidelined when it comes to matters of development. While we acknowledges efforts by government to bring about development in Western Province, clearly much more still needs to be done,” Sata said. “To our young people in the whole country and particularly those in Western Province, we feel for you and we understand that the challenges you face today can be a real source of losing hope. We appeal to you to use your youthfulness to exercise resilience even as you rightly continue to demand for a better place in our society. We also call upon all stakeholders from the government, Church, NGOs and donors, to do all they can to give hope to the young people.”

He called on stakeholders to come together and find a lasting solution to the dangerous situation that has evolved in Western Province.

“It is our belief that none of the parties involved cherishes needless loss of life or an environment where people live in fear and uncertainty. All stakeholders to this matter must demonstrate their commitment to peace by refraining from violence, intimidation or use of force as a means of achieving their objectives,” Sata said. “Violence and intimidation produces no winners in resolving problems. It just hardens the hearts of the victims to equally defend their position by the same means and in the end a vicious circle of hatred, violence and intimidation is perpetrated. We strongly feel that all parties to this matter must embrace the spirit of dialogue as a way of dealing with the issues.”

He said it was the PF's hope that the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) would help provide leadership and hope to the people of Barotseland.

“We recognise the efforts towards dialogue made by the BRE before January 14th, but the aftermath of this day has brought in new insights on how much more still needs to be done,” he said.

Sata appealed to the activist groups particularly the Liyungandambo, Barotse Freedom Movement (BFM) to commit themselves to peaceful means of advocating for their demands.

“It is our belief that their right to organise and associate must be protected, but this also entails on them a duty to respect the rights of others who may not belong to these groupings or may have different views on the subject at hand. The duty of government is to maintain law and order and to protect life and property. This duty should however be exercised with due diligence. Good judgement of what state action can result into is extremely necessary,” Sata said. “There are concerns around the heavy presence of armed police in Mongu and Mazabuka before and after the incidents. These concerns include the use of live bullets on the actual day which resulted in deaths and gunshot injuries. We hope that such extreme actions will not be used again to manage public order not only in Western Province and Mazabuka but in any other part of our country. Insistence on negotiation and dialogue should always be the key factor.”

Sata said in order to foster dialogue and normalise the situation in Western Province, he appealed to President Rupiah Banda to use his prerogative to release those that were incarcerated in prison over this case, some of whom are facing treason charges.

“In the interim, the suspects in custody must be accorded their rights as provided for in our Constitution and other related legislation,” he said.

He also stressed the need for peace and reconciliation.

“As Zambians, we must thank God for the relative peace we have enjoyed since independence.

However, each one of us has a duty to contribute to the sustenance of that peace, healing and reconciliation by behaving in a responsible way, respectful of other people and their human rights.

Government too must endeavour to be true custodians of people's liberties in all their actions. In this vein, we appeal to government to consider re-opening Radio Lyambai and allow it to operate. It is when we build ourselves as a society committed to mutual respect that we can ever hope for sustainable peace,” he said.

On the way forward, Sata said the Barotseland Agreement was still a valid legal contract to date.

“However, when Zambia became an independent and sovereign state the principal parties to the Barotseland Agreement have remained the Government of the Republic of Zambia and His Royal Highness the Litunga of Barotseland acting in consultation with his council or the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE). Since the Barotseland Agreement is still a valid document it is important that parties to this agreement must honour it and respect the agreement to the extent that the provisions of the agreement do not conflict with the Republican Constitution of the country or any other written law,” he said.

He said the spirit and letter of the document should, therefore, not be a genesis of conflict but dialogue between the parties.

“In this regard the Patriotic Front in government shall open dialogue with His Royal Highness the Litunga through the Barotse Royal Establishment as a way of building mutual trust between the parties.

The PF will ensure that the Barotseland question is resolved by pursuing a policy of mutual respect, harmony and consideration in order to achieve a win-win situation,” he said.

On the PF-UPND Pact, Sata said despite the differences in approach and implementation, he still believed that their action of forming the pact was the right way to avoid vote splitting.

“So it was against this need for opposition parties to work together that despite our higher popularity, as evidenced by the results from past elections, that we readily accepted the UPND proposals given through Professor Clive Chirwa. The reaction of the UPND to our acceptance of their own proposals, has quite frankly, surprised us in PF,” Sata said. “Our purpose for accepting UPND proposals was not because we are weak, but because as the undisputed leading opposition party, we need to be accommodative of the smaller opposition parties. We are well aware of our responsibilities to Zambia.

We will leave the citizens to judge for themselves our sincerity about the pact with UPND.”

He said PF recognised that it was not always possible that all the partners would be equal in their contribution.

“With respect to the PF/UPND Pact, therefore, it is clear that the expectations of our partners in the UPND differed from our own. After they made proposals which we readily, accepted for the sake of progress, then they turned away and decided against their own proposals, as the basis of co-operation. This is such a great pity. It defeats the whole purpose for which the Pact was established,” Sata said. “It is most regrettable that our colleagues in UPND have decided to walk away and dash the hopes of so many people which the Pact had so highly raised. However, it would be difficult to work with an unwilling partner. I continue to call for and remain open to co-operation with any other political parties, who are willing and agreed, in the hope that there may be those that may be ready to work with us.”

He said PF was not doing this because they want power for its own sake.

“We want to use such power to transform and develop our country,” he said, adding that there was lack of serious levels of development in the country.

“While we are told that our country is experiencing modest levels of development both urban and rural poverty, poverty is as high as 84 per cent amongst our people in some rural districts. Repeatedly people are living below the Poverty Datum Line (PDL) and in the urban areas there are high levels of unabated deprivation. When this situation is not alleviated, then its timely to call for a regime change.

It means the current government is unable to effect and manage a sustainable development agenda,” he said.

He said according to available statistics, there are not less than 800,000 children of school-going age, representing more than six per cent of our entire population, who were not in school.

“Government has no plausible plan to address this challenge. As though that was not enough, only 12 out of every one hundred (100) children that start school at Grade One (1), ever make it to Grade 12. Ask where do the others go? Less than 14,000, out of 300,000 children of college age, ever get into a tertiary institution. Ask so what happens to the remainder? After tertiary training, no more than 5,000 of our young citizens secure jobs. More than 90 per cent of the employable population of around four million people in Zambia, are not in informal employment. Ask how do they sustain their lives or those of their families,” Sata said.

He said the total national employment in Zambia has never exceeded 450,000 out of an eligible population of about 4 million people.

“So where is the economic growth which Rupiah and his Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane are always priding themselves of? Why has their GDP growth of 6.4 per cent not translated or produced jobs for our poor people? Can we and should we be expected to keep quiet, like sheep to the slaughter? We in PF say it's time to change the managers of our government. Does Zambia want to wait until it experiences revolutions like those in North Africa, before we can do something about it?” he asked.

He said citizens economic empowerment and job creation for Zambians was a must.

He said corruption has now become endemic and that financial thefts are no longer abhorred or frowned upon, and the government and the MMD lead in electoral fraud.

“Those who want to address the ills, like Judge Florence Mumba, at the Electoral Commission, are hounded out of office. Similarly, how can anyone have faith in the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Drug Enforcement or the Electoral Commission, which have no credibility in the eyes of the ordinary citizens? How then can the election results be trusted by any party?” he asked. “How does a responsible government react the way the MMD, through their spokesperson Ronnie 'Coward' Shikapwasha, has? What is wrong with Parallel Voter Tabulation (PVT)? Why should anyone be afraid of implementing PVT? How else can candidates from whichever political party ensure that the election results that will be announced by the officials are correct? It has been the lack of a credible verification process at polling stations and at national level (at the Electoral Commission) that have led to contentions and even electoral petitions, because the candidates have not been satisfied with the accuracy of the figures announced.”

He said PF and other stakeholders were aware that the MMD had capitalised weaknesses to rig elections by altering and falsifying election figures with a view to favouring their candidates.
He said there was no doubt that with the PVT, their chances of fidgeting with results would be minimised and that was why the MMD was scared of using the system.

He said PF would like to inform President Banda, Lt Gen Ronnie Shikapwasha and the electoral commission that it would not stand by and watch votes being stolen by MMD.

“Rigging elections should not be the role of the Intelligence Services, which are currently being abused. We already know that two printing presses have been installed to print illicit ballot papers in Lusaka. This is criminal and treasonable; those who perpetrate these acts, will one day be held culpable. They should not claim that they did not know, for we have told them,” Sata said. “ I want to openly declare and hereby give instructions to all our members and sympathisers, be alert and ensure that Parallel Voter Tabulation will be fully put into effect at every polling station. Your results should be reported immediately to our own Voter Collation Centre. In this way we shall know in advance, what the voting patterns and results are way before MMD, the Intelligence Officers and Electoral Commission cheat us of victory. Let it be known to our colleagues in MMD, that we have taken a stand on this and we will fight to the bitterest end if necessary.”