Sata is a letdown to Lozis - Aongola

Sata is a letdown to Lozis - Aongola
By Staff Reporters
Wed 29 Feb. 2012, 09:48 CAT

PRESIDENT Michael Sata is a letdown to the Barotse people, says Livingstone district coordinator for Freedom Fighters Association Kelly Aongola. Commenting on President Sata's reluctance to reinstate the Barotse Agreement, Aongola said the President was now going From against his campaign messages.

"During the campaigns, he said he was going to restore the Barotseland Agreement and he put in place a commission of inquiry, all he needs to do is respect the people's wishes but now he is changing goalposts," he said.

Aongola said what President Sata was saying about other chiefs was immaterial as those other tribes did not have any historical agreement signed on their hands.

And veteran politician George Akufuna said President Sata was not the final person over the Barotse issue.

"Although I'm not the spokesperson of the Litunga as we have a Ngambela, I will still speak out as a Lozi. President Sata or no Sata, the issue of the Barotseland Agreement should not be discontinued as he President Sata is not the final man in the world," he said.

Akufuna said President Sata should not include innocent traditional leaders such as the Chitimukulu, Mpezeni and even the Lozi traditional cousins that they want a paramount chief.

Akufuna said Livingstone Lozi's would seek an audience with the chairman of the Linyungandambo to chart the way forward.

Meanwhile, Mkhondo Lungu says he is ready "to pay the price" for having done the best he could during the January 14, 2011 Mongu riots.

Lungu, currently Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, was home affairs minister during the time of the fracas. He said he did not understand how a minister could incite the police as they were controlled by their trained superiors.

He said he did the best he could to restore order and peace in the country, saying deaths were regrettable.

The Mongu killings inquiry has recommended that a team of experts be set up to investigate former leaders among them former vice-president George Kunda, home affairs minister Lungu and the then Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde for any criminal offences that may have been committed during the fracas.

"I am prepared to pay the price for having done the right thing. I did the best to ensure there was law, order and peace in the country," said Lungu.

Asked if he was ready to leave the position of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly if Parliament recommended so, Lungu maintained that he was ready "to pay the price" for having done their best as government under the circumstances.

"As a minister, I don't tell the police what to do. It is naïve for anyone to think that a minister can incite the police. I did the best to ensure order and it was the responsibility of the government to ensure that," he said.

Lungu, however, supported President Sata's position regarding the reinstatement of the Barotseland Agreement of 1964.

But Kunda refused to comment, saying he wanted to read the report of the commission of inquiry.

He said he did not understand in which context the inquiry recommended for his investigation and therefore could not issue any statement.

And losing MMD Chimwemwe parliamentary candidate Ronald Manenga said President Sata had demonstrated good leadership over the stance he had taken on the Barotseland Agreement.

In an interview yesterday, Manenga said it was good that President Sata relooked at the Barotseland Agreement in a broader perspective and put first the interests of the nation.

Manenga said the Barotseland Agreement could have brought anarchy in the country.

He said recommendations by the Rodger Chongwe commission of inquiry that the Barotseland Agreement should be restored were disappointing as the agreement was a serious national issue that needed amicable solutions that could hold the country together.

Manenga said investigations in the Mongu killings and torture were justified but not the Barotseland Agreement as the President had a huge responsibility of uniting the country together as one Zambia.

"We are happy that the President is now looking at things in a broader perspective. He has demonstrated something very commendable. We were worried at first with political pronouncements, but we are happy he is looking at things at a broader perspective. As a leader, the President has a responsibility never to allow secession but to unite the country so that we move to another level of peace and prosperity," said Manenga.

Speaking at State House when he received the report on the inquiry on the Mongu killings, President Sata said he would be "very reluctant" to recommend the reinstatement of the Barotseland Agreement.