Maravi

Barotse Agreement is a key election issue

Barotse Agreement is a key election issue
By The Post
Thu 21 July 2011, 14:00 CAT

It is difficult to understand why Rupiah Banda issued that Monday statement on Barotseland. Sometimes it is better to keep quiet if one has nothing of value to say. Indeed, Rupiah had nothing of value to say. But it seems he felt he had to say something. Rupiah opened his statement by saying, “I wish to brief the nation on the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 and the ongoing dialogue between my government and the Barotse Royal Establishment”.

He went on to say: “Please, let me add that in the history of the government trying to resolve the issue of the Barotse Agreement of 1964, my government has closely consulted the Barotse Royal Establishment and briefed the establishment on what actions government is currently undertaking to deal with the varied and complex issues covered by the resolutions of the Barotse National Council.

In a nutshell, government is actively dealing with the Barotse issue. It is, therefore, my sincere hope that the people of Western Province and Zambia will appreciate the efforts that my government is making on this matter”. This is all Rupiah has told the nation about what his government was doing. There is no disclosure of anything other than that. But Rupiah expects Zambians to appreciate the efforts his government was making on this matter. What efforts should Zambians be expected to appreciate? What has Rupiah done or what is he doing for the people to appreciate his efforts?

The issue of the Barotse Agreement is above everything else a political issue. And in an election year, political issues become campaign issues. And the Barotse Agreement, whether Rupiah and his minions like it or not, will be a campaign issue in this year’s elections. The Barotse issue is a serious governance matter requiring clear positions from all those aspiring to govern our country.

Yes, as Rupiah rightly acknowledges, the Barotse Agreement was revoked in 1969 and since then, “various representations have been made to government to revisit the matter”. And every president of this country has received representations on this matter but failed to deal with it conclusively or in a manner that closed the issue. For the first time since 1964, lives were this year lost over the Barotse Agreement.

Why? No single Barotse activist has taken up arms to realise their goals. Even in this year’s protests in Mongu, no single Barotse activist was found with a firearm or anything that can be said to be a military weapon. The only firearms that were used in these protests were those the police were using. It was only the police who were armed. And it was only the police who killed. There was no single policeman who lost his life in the Mongu protests. Clearly, the only violent people in those protests were the police who went there with guns and with the intention to maim or kill and indeed they maimed and killed.

If one goes to a protest with a gun loaded with live ammunition, what is his intention? We all know what live ammunition does when put in a gun and that gun is fired at human beings!

In his whole statement, although Rupiah acknowledges the fact that there was violence in Mongu over the Barotse agreement, he does not in any way try to address the cause of this violence and show the nation who was violent. Of course, we know that Rupiah has blamed the violence that took place in Mongu on those poor protestors who were out on the streets trying to defend and assert their human rights.

We say this because on numerous occasions, Barotse activists tried to get police permits so that they could protest the abrogation of the Barotse Agreement. But on all occasions, they were denied the right to do so. This is a violation of their human rights. And to deny any person their human rights is to challenge their very humanity. We all know what happens everywhere in the world when any person or a group of persons’ human rights are denied. There is resistance. There is conflict. A struggle emerges.

In Mongu, people peacefully took to the streets to defend and assert their human rights. But their peaceful protests were met with live bullets and teargas by the police. They tried whatever they could do to resist police bullets and teargas, sometimes by barricading roads with burning tyres. But you can’t fight live ammunition with bare hands, with burning tyres. People were killed. People were maimed. People were arrested, detained and taken to prisons far away from their homes, from the area they know. Some of them died as a result of this incarceration. Some of them, including juveniles, have been convicted and imprisoned in prisons far away from their hometowns of Western Province. Rupiah did not try to address any of these issues at all.

All Rupiah has told the nation is that he has directed the Secretary to the Cabinet to constitute a team of senior government officials to study the resolutions of the Barotse National Council so that in due course, the government can adequately respond to these resolutions. And Rupiah says these resolutions raise a number of fundamental challenges that affect the people of Western Province. He sees this issue as a very complex matter. But what is complex about the Barotse Agreement? There is nothing complex about the Barotse Agreement. What is complex about this agreement is simply his unwillingness to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar because if he does, Caesar may have more than what he himself has and he may not be able to control him anymore. This is the only thing that is complex about the Barotse Agreement.

Rupiah says “some politicians have continued to take advantage and tried to hoodwink the people of Western Province into believing that this matter of the Barotse Agreement can be resolved overnight”. This is a political issue which every serious politician has to address. Those trying to address the issue are simply fulfilling a duty required of them by the people.

Anyone who goes into this year’s elections without a solution for the Barotse Agreement is not a serious politician deserving the votes of our people, not only in Western Province but the whole country. The issue of Barotseland requires political leadership to resolve. It also requires resolute decisions and not stories which one cannot easily discern what one is trying to say. What is needed are clear solutions. If Rupiah is still researching on the best way to deal with the Barotse issue, then he should pend his candidature for the presidency of this country until he has finished his dissertation on the Barotse question.

We are dealing with governance issues here and not a research project. The people of Barotseland have made it clear on what they want. They are not interested in a politician coming up to tell them what he wants the Barotse Agreement to be. The solution to this issue lies in meeting the people on their terms, on what they want – give to the people of Barotseland what they want. And what the people of Barotseland want, and indeed the rest of the country wants, is the restoration of the Barotse agreement in a manner that will benefit them and the rest of the country. The whole country will benefit from the restoration of the Barotse Agreement. And this is why the whole country is today in support of the restoration of the Barotse Agreement because it is a progressive and important document that will help deepen democracy in our country and improve the governance of our nation.

Clearly, Rupiah has no answer to the Barotse issues. He is still searching for answers from civil servants. And elections are just a few weeks away. All Rupiah can tell the people of Zambia is that he is still searching for a solution. There is no need for endless consultations on this issue. As Rupiah acknowledges himself, representations have been made on this issue to every successive government since 1969. Every serious politician knows, or should know, what these representations are.

There is therefore no need for Rupiah to try and belittle or deride those politicians who have declared support for the restoration of the Barotse Agreement and have publicly committed themselves to restoring it if they are voted into office. This is a serious commitment on their part. It is a commitment on which they have to deliver. If they don’t deliver, they will go faster than they came. If anyone thinks he can play cheap politics with this issue, he is a fool.

And it will be better to go with those who have promised to honour the Barotse Agreement and usher in a new form of local government or devolution of power in our country. If we work with them and ensure that they are accountable on their election promises, we stand a better chance of realising this dream than to deal with people who are dodgy and non-committal on this key election issue. The Barotse Agreement is a key campaign issue in this year’s elections and all candidates, especially the presidential ones, need to be very clear with their messages on this issue. No one will be allowed space to dodge this issue.

Labels: BAROTSE FREEDOM MOVEMENT, BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:37 PM