This week marks a momentous time in Zambia’s incredible calendar. We are together celebrating the Golden Jubilee under a signature of peace and sustained national security.
On behalf of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), I wish to congratulate all Zambians and in particular, our founding leaders, a lot of them who are still with us today. On this special occasion, we honor and salute both the living and departed Heroes of our liberation struggle. We vow never to forget all the sacrifices you made on our behalf. May God’s mercy be extended to you and your succeeding families.
May I go further to thank and honor those unsung heroes, whose names do not appear on the roll of recorded freedom fighters and yet also gave all they had, including their lives to secure our freedom. We may not know their names but the Lord does.
I also wish to honour all the men and women that participated in the struggle for the emancipation of the nation from the oppressive One-Party state. The MMD is a pioneering political party that restored personal, economic and press freedoms in 1991 under the leadership of many great men and women who sacrificed in similar fashion to the 1964 generation.
We should not exclude the many gallant Zambians who in the past fifty years shaped the nation at different times and brought great national pride in different sectors like sport, church, politics, and culture. While many Zambians will be given awards for their outstanding achievements, we fear that others from equally important sectors may be over-looked.
The word “Jubilee” is a biblical word which signifies the year of complete freedom and rest. The Sabbath is the seventh day in which God rested after creating the world. Israel was commanded to do no servile work on this day. The Jubilee is the Sabbath of Sabbaths. The Bible says:
And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shall thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound….through out all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim LIBERTY through out all the land….. And you shall RETURN every man unto his POSSESSION, and you shall return every man unto his family…… You shall not therefore OPPRESS one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am The Lord your God. (Leviticus 25:1-17)
As we open a new page, we should apply ourselves to the true meaning of Jubilee. It is not a political slogan but a Biblical truth. It literally means “a time of renewal”. To give back FREEDOMS that were taken away in the past fifty years. To RETURN ALL POSSESSIONS taken away from individuals and to ensure that not a single person is OPPRESSED by another.
In the spirit of Jubilee therefore, the MMD makes the following demands from the PF government:
1. We demand our freedom back. Freedom to associate and assemble as we wish. We demand that abuse of the Public Order Act be stopped. We need our freedom to hold meetings without facing the brutality of the police. In the year of Jubilee, freedom must be restored.
2. We demand for media freedoms to be restored. The MMD pioneered press freedom in 1991 which the PF government has taken away by dragging journalists and publications to court on flimsy charges and blocking critical media websites. Without press freedom, a nation can never be truly free as the media are the watchdogs of society to make governments accountable to the electorate.
2. We demand that the land being taken illegally by a few rich and powerful people be repossesed and made available to the ordinary Zambian. We need our possessions back in the year of Jubilee.
3. We demand that no Zambian should be oppressed by the ruling party in terms of selective justice being served. We demand that Zambians be allowed to freely express themselves without being arrested as the current trend is. We demand that the current spell of fear and intimidation be broken over the nation.
4. We demand that the wage freeze be lifted, so that workers can freely bargain for better pay in this Jubilee year.
5. We demand the right to education by reviewing the bursary scheme for university students so that students from poor families will have equal access to education.
As we move forward to the next fifty years, may we insist on a new leadership of morality and integrity to move Zambia into the future. We are thankful to God for the political emancipation of 1964 and 1991. It is now time for economic emancipation. But this can only be achieved by a new leadership of morality and integrity with the fear of God and love for the down-trodden.
Zambia must become a fully developed nation in the next 50 years just like Western nations. A new leadership of morality and integrity must take over and introduce the necessary economic and political reforms to produce rapid economic growth like the one witnessed in China of double-digits over 30 years. Though we have achieved much, there remains a greater distance to the finish line.
This Jubilee would be incomplete if we do not put in place a social safety-net to remember those who paid a high price for the freedom we now enjoy. MMD proposes a special fund for all freedom-fighters to ensure that none of them dies in poverty after giving us freedom through their sweat and blood.
May this Jubilee introduce us to true love and respect for each other and a maturity to embrace those who hold views different from ours. May Zambia be a beacon of light on the continent.
Zambia Shall Be Saved.
Better message than HH although not intellectually at his majesty Michael Sata’s level.
Thanks
Why is MMD’s president Nevers Mumba message on right (back page) and VJ’s story on front page (left)?
All leaders’ stories got respected, but MMD’s is thrown-away with entertainment like Fifa ranking, pictures of weekend (before weekend), muscians with their Amarula songs…
@Mushota
Yes this is definitely a better message than what that attention seeker HH wrote. Mumba is a more level headed of the two.
@Nostradamus
Look at the difference between you, Mushota and Saulosi. You are being your usual trivial self, and they are engaging each other. That is what makes you an addicted blogger. You want to make a comment on every story, even when you do not understand the topic. It is the reason you lie to readers. It could be a sickness you will need to address. I have challenged you on your claims you know Field Ruwe. Show your friends his pictures as you claimed. We are looking forward to see them. This is your moment of truth. Do not pull another lie….Friends of Nostradamus–if he does not show you the pictures treat him as a pathological liar and advice him to seek treatment
@I’ve read both Jubilee messages by HH and Dr Mumba.Dr Mumba portrays National Leadership whilst HH portrays personal lesdership.And HH’s speech is actually showing some internal personal attitudes of bitterness and frustration.Bitter and frustrated leadership is very dangerous-There’s possible vergence actions if by mistake such a leadership assumes power.
This is the kind of thinking we expect from a leader that is so pragmatic and visionary. Not all days should be viewed political. Jubilee is for all in this Country, cuts across politics. Time for Political Parties too to envision direction of their thought. This is great Nevers. Right in the middle, not politics. This ,I coin it politics of progressiveness. May the ear Nevers’s message is sent to hear and reflect for positive change. Upright thinking NOT always cry babies is want this Country needs. We need forward and positive thinking as exhibited in Nevers writing. This should not be viewed as sign of weakness as through acts, utterances of our politicians ,therefrom we assess who is who. Experiments with leadership is bad.
Iyi e boom! Presidential material.
Thank you Dr. Nevers Mumba, very inspiring, slowly u continue proving to some of us that u r indeed an intelligent leader. Presidential material for me.
When will Zambia be saved nobantu kaka? by who?
@Zambia Shall Be Saved is a Statement of Faith-To show forward looking of the Zambia we would like to see now and in Future.Salvation can both be spiritual and physical.Spiritual Birth of the country and some of it’s pipo involved(preferrably all) and also Economic Development to uplift the living standards of the pipo.As to when will this be?Fixed answer can not be given.But the earlier we seriously acknowledge the Lordship and Saviour of our Lord Jesus Christ the Better for Zambia.Who knows with this Jubilee,God can do anything for Zambia by His Grace.
As Sata would say ‘Nashala neka party’ in retrospective makes a jubilee message. We are awaiting one from the presidential bed side talk shop jubilee speech.
TRULU IYIIII E BOOM! NEVERS IS SPEAKING AUTHORITATIVELY, NOT INSULTING ANYONE, BUT GIVING AN INSPIRATIONAL AND ENCOURAGING MESSAGE IN THIS DARK PERIOD WHEN WE DO NOT KNOW WHERE OUR FATHER, MR SATA IS AND HOW HE IS. WE FEEL LIKE CHILDREN ABOUT TO BE ORPHANED.
THANK YOU NEVERS. THIS IS A FATHERLY MESSAGE. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, YOU KNOW WHAT JUBILEEE MEANS. KEEP IT UP MAN OF GOD. GOD IS ON YOUR SIDE AND HAS DEVLIVERED THIS NATION TO YOU. GOD BLESS YOU AND PLEASE LOOK AFTER THIS COUNTRY, THERE IS NOONE ELSE WHO CAN BE TRUSTED.
AT THIS POINT I THINK OF FIRST LADY, BE STRONG MADAM AND BE OF GOOD COURAGE. THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
The pastor has spoken. Finally, I realise I was right to write off The Pastor from list of true presidential contenders for 2016. The issues discussed in his preach (sorry, message…eh, Jubilee speech) are all short-term matters. The Pastor has failed to transcend the years and the political barriers. E.g. wage freeze affects only 170 thousand formally employed people, in a country of 14 million +, and it ends in 2016 so why talk about it in a speech that, by own admission, comes once in 50 years? Then the mention of political names makes the speech somewhat partisan. In fact, very partisan because it clearly says them (PF) and us (MMD plus the supposed other Zambians who sympathise). That, to me, comes from a leader of a political party – not someone who can be president for all Zambians
Some of these demands are hypocritical. Remember that Chiluba used to protest against UNIP for not increasing salaries of civil servants in those years; there was a de facto wage freeze during UNIP under the guise of tightening belts. What did Chiluba do? He used the same instrument. Even Magande used the wage freeze to get out of a tight economic squeeze during Mwanawasa’s time. These leaders must not gain cheap political miles on an instrument they even know they will use themselves once ushered in! Talk is indeed cheap after all.
A God fearing Man, a man giving himself for the service of God through serving God’s best creation. Dr. Mumba thank you for that word