MMD President Nevers Mumba has appealed to President Michael Sata to consider pardoning Barotseland secessionists facing treason charges for championing the separation of western province from the rest of Zambia.
Dr Mumba says pardoning the activists will act as a means of creating an enabling environment for dialogue and unity in the country.
Dr. Mumba told Q fm in an interview that the solution to Barotseland issue does not lie in the way the Patriotic Front government has handled the matter.
He adds that the problems in Western province are a creation of the Patriotic Front after failing to fulfill its promise on the Barotseland agreement.
Dr. Mumba says if the PF government was willing to talk and consult on the issue of the Barotseland it would not have escalated to the current situation.
And Dr. Mumba says Zambians should decide themselves whether or not to attend national events such as independence celebrations and that no one should dictate to them.
He adds that President Michael Sata should not wait for national events to show that he is willing to work with the opposition, stating that there is need real interaction between the Patriotic Front and The opposition.
UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has urged Zambians boycott Independence Day celebrations saying there is nothing to celebrate when the majority Zambians are suffering.
I got a suggestion.How about Sata celebrating independence with the Barotse in Mongu?
There is a wider dynamic at play here. Even the lozi guys in the Caprivi area of Namibia (recently renamed Zambezi province) are putting up the same nonsense. Reconciliation must be balanced – it is not one sided.
Do not be misled by Nevers’s antiques. He has been slowly getting close to the Cobra and soon and very very soon he will jump sheep when Guy Scott is retired. Watch this space.
You can only pardon one who has been found guilty, as it is right now they are still in court . Dr Mumba should instead request for their release. But again if they broke the law they should face the court otherwise as a nation we will be setting a bad precedence that one can break the law and get away with it or that someone pleads for his or her release. Let the due process take its course if they are found guilty then they could be pardoned if the president so wishes. If they will be found innocent they will be free to go home. This should serve as a warning to politicians, ‘Don’t talk too much’ especially making promises you cannot fulfil.
@ Observer, bad precedence my foot! which other Province in Zambia had signed a similar agreement to the BA64? You can only say that if there is a chain of similar agreement which were signed by then Northern Rhodesia and provinces to form Zambia. But for all I know, and history stands by my side, was only Barotseland which signed the Agreement with Northern Rhodesia, to form Zambia. So, which precedence are you talking about?
RELEASE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW, AHEAD OF ZAMBIA’S INDEPENDENCE JUBILEE
I release this statement on the eve of the 49th Anniversary day of Zambia’s attainment of Independence. I call for the unconditional release of all political prisoners now, ahead of the 2014 jubilee year of Zambia’s Independence. Zambia’s Independence is a mockery of injustice as long as there is even a single case of a citizen in captivity for political reasons.
On this eve of Zambia’s Independence, I have visited to the Mwembeshi Maximum Prison, where the former Barotseland Ngambela – Prime Minister – of Barotseland and former Zambia Deputy Minister of Education, Clement Sinyinda and over 80 Barotse nationals are held on charges of treason. This situation compels me to break silence and publicly call for…
Sata is a Hypocrite and a Parasite, who Uses and Abuses his own pipo. He criticized RB for arresting Barotse Advocates but turns around and does the same thing, what a FULL of a president.
it will serve you well if you changed your name BS to Bull Sh*t
Buffalo Soldier, you are FULL of BS… The fact you have most of it doesn’t give you the right to spread it in public.
BS u have a point, all what our president condemned when he was in opposition is what he himself he is doing and it is very surprising if asked me. but woe to GEN, yo ignorance, and thinkless mind just tells us a lot about you and your family tree, i will end there.
Pardon is offered to those who are sorry for what they have done and promise never to offend with the same offence again.
The only thing you are forgetting is that pf saw them not guilty when it suited them, hence released them. Now that they have realized the danger that this rebellion poses to the unity of the nation they rearrest them. If you read between the lines, you will discover that this Linyungandambo is pf’s creation and so the law should also visit them.
That card has been used before by MCS, doubt it will work again, Nervers.
Sata is a lier, wabufi, niwboza. Zambia is a failed state under this man.
The headline is good, the contents rubbish. I agree that these guys should be pardonend as a way to foster meaningful dialogue. However, for Mumba to say these problems arise from the PF’s false promises is nonsense. PF inherited these problems. Granted, they did say they shall look into it, but it does not in anyway help the larger picture to reduce the whole problem to PF’s inefficiency. It ends up looking like Mumba is just using the Barotse issue as a stone to throw at PF for a vendetta. This does not mean that the topic of Barotse is irrelevant. I am just saying those who fight for a true and lasting solution in Barotseland should be careful who they partner with. Some people are just in it for political mileage. Maybe even PF did the same when they were in opposition.
I note further and in agreement with your observation that Michael Sata did indeed gain political mileage in Western Province purely because of the Barotseland issue. However, it was Rupiya Banda who paid the hefty price for Sata’s political success. By his mishandling of the Barotseland issue, Banda was made to pay dearly by the Lozis who denied him their votes. But does that mean Sata got a free ride? Hardly. He too may be heading Banda’s way and kiss the canvass prematurely. Banda was arrogant and by any standards, a political novice. Sata was a political vulture that went to feast on the carcass. Showing that he too is politically savvy, Mumba is trying to play Sata’s game. Politics being politics, who wouldn’t?
I don’t think you followed Sata’s statements during campaigns. Sata was not sincere. Some of us doubted the fulfilling of what he was promising the Litunga and people in Western Province. Mumba is very right.
Treason is treason and sadly, it is by law punishable by death. A pardon simply indicates that a President has the liberty to relax a law every time he has a privilege to do so.
Which government did they try to overthrow?
You may want to ask Kaunda and find out why he relinquished his mandate to rule Barotseland in 1969? Please note that at Zambia’s independence in 1964, Britain did not need to and did not consult any other power on earth to ascribe the mandate to rule Zambia on Kaunda. However, the same was not tenable when it came to Barotseland. With respect to Barotseland, Britain could not ascribe the mandate to rule on Kaunda. Instead, the king of Barotseland, the Litunga had to fly to Britain to go and ascribe the mandate to rule Barotseland on Kaunda. This was achieved by signing the infamous and since abrogated Barotseland Agreement, thanks to Kaunda’s generosity. Since Kaunda relinquished the authority to rule Barotseland, Zambia technically lost it’s jurisdiction over the region.
A suggestion absolutely fitting indeed that is your job ba cleggyman…I totally agree….. they might have broken the law but wisdom calls otherwise
These guys claim they are not ‘Zambians’. They Claim they ceased to be Zambians when Kaunda abrogated the Barotse Agreement of 1964 (BA64) in 1969. What they will endeavor to do in Court is to prove that they are not Zambians but Barostelanders.
Thanks to Kaunda’s foresight and mathematical mind. He created this equation which Sata is failing to solve. If Barotseland is part of Zambia then reinstate the BA 64.
release all of them and don’t celebrate…
NO, NO, NO, NO. Wait! You are calling them secessionists , but in America or Somalia such people are called Terrorists. And therefore NO mercy on them & Prison is the place for them.
TIZADABWA CHANI
@ Osadabwa iwe.
Don’t sit on the fact that pf encouraged these ‘terrorists’ or were even part of them during the 2011 election campaigns.
The Barotse agreement of 1964 on channel africa english servise,tomoro wen (11:00am to 12:00am
mr mumba can u tel the nation what u wl do for the barotse people when u become president. ar u going to allow them to be own there own( country).
Atase. How many times can you pardon errant fimofimo? Let ’em rot ku Chimbokaila.
Osa Dabwa you are right. These guys are terrorists. Wait until they acquire guns.
Pardon my sugar mumy Namugala,reconcile with yo bro Cosmo Mumba then you can talk about Barotse fiasco bitchhh!
Pardon my sugar mumy Namugala,reconcile with yo bro Cosmo Mumba then you can talk about Barotse fiasco bitchh!
Pardon my sugar mumy Namugala,reconcile with your bro Cosmo Mumba then you can talk about Barotse fiasco bitchh!
HUNG THEM!
It will set a good example to stupid wannabe terrorists. Use wires not ropes!!! Fcukers!
On this barotse issue MCS will only do what serves him politically and not what serves Zambia’s interests.Rest assured of that.
Thank u for speaking for the Lozi. But remember a pardon that does not remove the cause is a waste of time. The people in detention are not scared to die for what belongs to them, and we can join them.
The ba64 is a foundation document for founding of Zambia, we will never be cheated again.
Continue playing your games and think the ba64 will die a natural death.
We want things to be straightened out. It will be of no use to release people n have others arrested on the same issue. Let wisdom reign
The only place i would like to see secede is Mpika…and take is madman along with it.
@1.3 observer
Well said, let the due proccess of the law finish then those UNITA rebels can b pardoned.
at times when l see mumba opens up his mouth l dont knw weather he edits
what he says or not but looking at his outburst it clearly shows that he lacks
legal mind. better you ignore him permanently
mumba dont mix things of God and politics this has always been reminded to both your spiritual hearing thots and your physical hearing thots but to no avail
how else do what to be reminded?
iwe umanye waka vachiuta pakuti chiuta wakukusankha cifukwa ukasakhika kuti ube
mulisyaa wabanthu ndale cha. this is pure tumbuka language.