Maravi

PF accuses Rupiah of deception on Barotse issue

PF accuses Rupiah of deception on Barotse issue
By Ernest Chanda
Mon 25 July 2011, 14:00 CAT

THE PF says President Rupiah Banda’s statement on the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 is meant to deceive the people of Western Province.

Commenting on President Banda’s recent acknowledgement that the Barotseland issue was a serious national matter, PF chairperson for local government Given Lubinda, in a joint statement with Freddy Milinga, said President Banda’s statement was in fact empty.

Lubinda said President Banda was trying to make some people believe that he was concerned about the matter when in fact not.

“The only logical conclusion that can be drawn from Mr Banda’s statement is that this is a political ploy and an afterthought aimed at hoodwinking people of Western Province into believing that he is interested in the matter of the Barotseland Agreement. Had he been genuinely interested, he would not have waited seven months to comment,” Lubinda said in a statement yesterday.

“He is simply trying to procrastinate so that he can corruptly buy some people to his side in view of the pending election. He has realised the negative impact of his government’s brutality on the innocent people of Western Province, and so he wants to make amends. But this is too late for him because some people have been maimed already, while his agents have killed others. We therefore call upon the people to be vigilant and not sell their souls for a few pieces of silver that Mr Banda wants to dangle.”

Lubinda said if President Banda were truly committed to tackling the Barotseland issue, his so-called team set up to look into the matter would by now have made their recommendations to him.

He said since President Banda had now placed the Barotseland issue on his political agenda, it must motivate people into further and indepth debate of the issue.

Lubinda said everyone remembered how Vice-President George Kunda mocked members of parliament who questioned the government’s motive in brutalising its own people.

“Banda failed to comment on the incident that occurred in Mongu on 4th February 2011. He instead chose to send his Vice-President to Parliament to trivialise the whole nasty saga. George Kunda, in answering questions from MPs on the matter, was comical in his explanations. Many people were disappointed when MMD members of parliament were tickled into laughter by Kunda’s mockery of such a serious national disaster,” said Lubinda.

“It is also a well established fact that the Patriotic Front and its president Mr Michael Sata have been directly supporting the idea of arriving at an acceptable conclusion of the restoration of the Barotseland Agreement. As a matter of fact, the Barotseland Agreement is as much a governance issue as it is a political one, and it deserves the attention of all serious-minded politicians and political parties. The PF shall thus continue to debate the mater whether Mr Banda likes it or not.”

Breaking his silence on the matter last week, President Banda said he was deeply troubled with the Barotse activists, whom he said resorted to unlawful behaviour during the January 14 Mongu fracas.

In a statement released last Monday by his press aide Dickson Jere, President Banda claimed that his government had all along been trying to resolve the issue.

Jere said it was unfortunate that in spite of what transpired early this year, some politicians had continued to take advantage and tried to hoodwink the people of Western Province into believing that the matter of the restoration of the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 could be resolved overnight.

Labels: BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, DICKSON JERE, GIVEN LUBINDA, PF, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 5:50 PM