Maravi

Barotse Council opts to secede

Barotse Council opts to secede
By Mwala Kalaluka and Nyambe Muyumbana in Mongu
Wed 28 Mar. 2012, 13:00 CAT

THE Barotse Royal Establishment's district courts have unanimously called for total independence of Barotseland from Zambia in view of the unilateral abrogation of the Barotseland Agreement by Dr Kenneth Kaunda's government.

And some delegates to the Barotse National Council on Monday 'jeered' former labour minister Austin Liato when he was introduced to the convocation by a Barotse Royal Establishment induna.

Submitting their resolutions from the consultative meetings that took place in all the seven district traditional courts over the Barotseland Agreement issue before the Barotse National Council that closed in Limulunga yesterday, the representatives said their position on the matter was in unison.

The BRE's Induna Inete, Tawila Silumbu, in presenting the Mongu district resolutions on Monday afternoon said the people of Barotseland wanted to determine their political, cultural, social and economic development.

"That the Barotseland Protectorate and Northern Rhodesia that became Zambia shall revert to their original status," Induna Inete said.

"That Barotseland shall be secured as an independent sovereign state, come what may. Touch one, touch all."

In his submissions on behalf of the BRE in Senanga district, Induna Mukwaka, Sitali Mukubesa, said on Tuesday morning that whereas Zambia was a Republic, Barotseland was a kingdom.

"The Barotse did not surrender their sovereignty and territory to any state at all," he said. "The people of Senanga have no choice but to call for self-determination."

Induna Mukwakwa said the process of Barotseland's separation from Zambia should start now.

Sesheke BRE representative, Induna Amukutehile said in his submission that all the 21 sub-districts under Senior Chief Inyambo Yeta in Mwandi were for total independence.

Induna Amukutehile said Lozis owed no one any apology for being who they were and he expressed surprise as to why the Zambian government had assumed a role of spokespersons for some paramount chiefs over the Barotseland issue.

"Our patience as Lozis is like an elastic rubber. There is a limit to which you can stretch an elastic rubber. Beyond that the elastic will snap. Enough is enough," said Induna Amukutehile.

"They Zambian governments passed a lot of pronouncements , one of them being that there is no provision for secession in the Barotseland Agreement 1964, by the same token, it is worth noting that there is no provision for unilateral abrogation of the agreement."

A representative from the BRE in Kalabo district also echoed sentiments of his colleagues from the other districts by calling for Barotseland's separation from Zambia.

The BRE in Kalabo challenged serving members of parliament and councillors to resign their positions immediately in view of the separation of Barotseland from Zambia.

Induna Yutanga from the BRE in Kaoma district, Namushi Nyambe, who is also Barotseland Freedom Movement national chairperson, said the people of Barotseland will seek international intervention in its conflict with the Zambian government.

Induna Yutanga said an all-inclusive interim committee should be set up just after the BNC to manage the period of transition towards Barotseland's independence from the Zambian government.

He called on the international community to stop treating the Barotseland issue as an internal matter but that they should get involved now to avoid the situation from spiraling into an unpleasant conflict resolution issue.

A representative from the BRE in Lukulu also said from the few meetings they held in the sub-districts the people of Lukulu were desirous for total independence from Zambia because they felt marginalised.

And when Liato who was in the company of Nalikwanda MMD member of parliament Prof Geoffrey Lungwangwa was introduced to the BNC by Batuke Imenda, who is Induna Mukulwakashiko, on Monday, the audience broke into mocking 'jeers'.

Some of the youth were heard describing Liato, a former MMD member of parliament for Kaoma Central but originally from Muyumbana area in Kalabo, as a man who knew how to bury money.

Liato, who was not seen at the BNC the follwing day (yesterday), together with Prof Lungwangwa and the MMD's acting president Michael Mabenga, just smiled at the reaction his introduction had triggered.

And Barotseland prime minister Ngambela Wainyae Sinyinda said change is a necessity when every other way becomes impossible.

Cautioning people that he said were scheming to divide the people of Barotseland on ethnic lines, Sinyinda said in an address to delegates to the Barotse National Council in Limulunga on Monday that such ethno-inclined schemers should stop their activities immediately.

"We wonder why some people should go to an extent of trying to divide us," said Sinyinda during his oratory punctuated by wild applause.

"Some people are trying to divide us because they know that in disunity they will thrive."

He said most of the over 30 ethnic groupings in Barotseland had co-existed peacefully for hundreds of years.

"We are aware that some people are scheming to divide us. I am appealing to all those who are scheming to divide us, please don't divide us. We are one people," Sinyinda told the gathering attended by Western Province minister John Kufuna and other government officials.

"Some people are circulating a speech purporting that it was my speech, as if we are causing violence, never shall we do that."

Sinyinda said such manoevres could explain the presence of a lot of security forces in Mongu ahead and during the Barotse National Council, which closed yesterday.

He said the people of Barotseland were peace-loving and that if they were not, the opposite of peace should have happened a long time ago.

"What we are going to resolve at this Barotse National Council, it will be the way forward," said Sinyinda as more wild applause and ear-piercing whistling continued.

"When I undertook to take up the position of Ngambela of Barotseland at such a volatile and precarious time as this one, it was with no illusion that it was ever going to be an easy assignment because I fully realise the challenges and almost insurmountable obstacles that are facing our people and our land."

He said he has faith in the Barotse people's capacity to unite and rally behind a genuine and legitimate cause, because history had shown that whenever they, as a people, allowed disunity to prevail among them, they have tended to take a downward curve.

Sinyinda said the current quagmire the people of Barotseland were faced with was largely because of the disunity that existed at the time the wind of change against colonialism was sweeping across the African continent.

"The Barotseland Agreement 1964 was therefore a compromised position between the two warring factions. Disunity which was a consequence of lack of vision on the part of the so-called freedom fighters has brought us where we are today; signing an agreement with people who have no regard for the rule of law," said Sinyinda.

"I propose that we re-introduce the checks and balances model in the Barotse Royal Establishment governance system which was terminated prematurely."

Labels: BAROTSE FREEDOM MOVEMENT, BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT, KENNETH KAUNDA

posted by MrK @ 5:47 PM