Acting Chief Government Spokesperson Fackson Shamenda has dismissed accusations by opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema that government intends to impose one local language following the introduction of local languages as a medium of instruction in schools.
Mr Shamenda said Mr. Hichilema’s accusations were out of frustration because the Patriotic Front government under President Michael Sata has performed beyond his expectations.
Mr. Shamenda said in a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today that all well meaning Zambians should dismiss the UPND leader’s thinking adding that Zambians were reasonable enough not to take him seriously.
Below is the full Statement
Republic of Zambia
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services
STATEMENT BY HON. FACKSON SHAMENDA, ACTING MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING SERVICES AND CHIEF GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON ON ACCUSATIONS BY OPPOSITION UPND LEADER MR HAKAINDE HICHILEMA THAT GOVERNMENT WANTS TO IMPOSE ONE LOCAL LANGUAGE
Government’s ongoing successes to develop the country are causing opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema sleepless nights, hence his baseless outburts against the Government even on non issues.
He is frustrated at the fact that the Patriotic Front Government under the able and visionary leadership of His Excellency President Michael Chilufya Sata, has surpassed his expectations and relegated his prophecies of doom to the dustbin of history.
Mr Hichilema’s hallucinations that Government wants to impose one local language on Zambia, as reported in today’s Post newspaper, is not only cheap and shameful, but also typical of his tribal and regional character.
All well meaning Zambians should dismiss this kind of thinking. Zambians are one people and reasonable enough not to take such day dreaming seriously.
Only political upstarts and failures like Mr Hichilema would engage in this type of politics which has no place in modern day democratic dispensation.
Zambians cherish peace and unity in diversity. They have no time for leaders who want to drag them to stone-age politics of tribe and regional segregation.
Zambia is a model and envy of the world with regard to democracy, peace and unity. The country has 73 tribes all of which have, and continue to live peacefully side by side since time immemorial.
We have had peaceful elections and transitions from one Government to another since independence.
It is therefore, highly irresponsible for Mr Hichilema to seek to dent these impeccable credentials by championing regional politics for selfish gain.
While english is the official language for government business and commerce, local languages have been an integral and examinable part of Zambia’s educational curriculum both before and after independence. There is nothing wrong for Government to reintroduce the local language s in Zambian schools.
There is therefore, nothing new or retrogressive in the Government’s decision to introduce local languages as a medium of instruction in Zambian schools from the first to the fourth grade.
Rather than oppose the reintroduction of local languages in Zambian schools, stakeholders are urged to suggest progressive ideas to make this initiative work for the good of our country. Resisting change for the sake of it is retrogressive.
A country which does not take pride in its indigenous languages is in danger of losing a vital part of its God-given heritage and identity.
In this regard, Government has a duty to preserve our various languages and use them as a tool for fostering unity and development.
Fackson Shamenda, MP
ACTING MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING SERVICES AND CHIEF GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON
24th January, 2014
PF has performed beyond expectations because the standards you set for yourselves are very low. This is a warning to Zambians that they should desist from making practical jokes when electing leaders. Sata and his minions are jokers. And they shall forever remain so!
kwena shamenda litufi. let him just concentrate on those women he spent his pension on. we know all the facts, we just dont want to expose you ba mdala. so for your own good. just keep quiet!!!
Shamenda, you and Sata are just clowns in power!
Shamenda is more of a Minister of Misinformation
Thes clowns or what ever you call them have developed lvingstone here we are impressed beyond expectation.thats the litmus test for politics in Africa,development.On local languages,tonga will be used where it is and kaonde in my home area so where is the issue wena HH? Lier in the making.
BA HH NABO NI NKONKO SANA. HOW CAN A LEARNED PERSON BE SO RETROGRESSIVE?
An advanced plan has been hatched by the PF to recall some the people serving in foreign missions to save the foreign currency. Some missions are about to be closed altogether.
If you remember the vice president rebuking some of the envoys abroad for not doing enough to sell Zambia.
So those pro PF bloggers in embassies abroad should prepare yourselves for a sack.
Shame…nda whereas your response to the Catholic Father’s Pastoral Letter over the same language issue? Are you more scared of HH? Or has your boss ordered you to only respond to what HH says?
Why didn’t you release your fullish statement in 73 local languages Mr Shame? May be we would have taken your rant seriously!
HH is ihe only hope in 2016. He sees beyond what others fail to see.
I would rather dismiss Sata and Shamendas’ thinking than HH’s.
This man must shave his heard and scattered beards. I do not understand the politicians of today why the result into insults instead of explaining the issues surrounding them. Leaders who do not accept meaningful critisms are not good leaders. We want the government to explain all these confusions surrounding them and time is running fast for you bwana.
Hon. Shamenda,
Can you please correct your statement in order to truly reflect facts instead of fiction.
The headline should read:
“HH and huge majority of Zambia are frustrated because PF government under President Sata has performed way bellow minimum expectations!!!
Where is Mwansa Kapeya?
Overseas at the tax payers expense learning to read and write in all 73 languages
@142,
Very funny indeed. Guilty as charged for my painful ribs.
Yes PF has performed well on:
1. increasing salaries for civil servants, chiefs and constitutional office bearers
2. working on roads and railway line
3. building universities in Muchinga and stadia in Lusaka
4. Abolishing alcohol sold in sachets (Tujilijili)
5. Creating more districts and employing people in there. Bringing gov’t close to the people
6. Eliminating the Mailoni brothers.
But PF has not done well on:
1. Giving people a good constitution in a short time (I’m not saying 90 days as PF put it)
2. Street vending in big cities like Lusaka thereby causing so much garbage
3. Failing to introduce windfall tax on mining
4. Cost of living going up due to increases in Mealie meal and other goods and services even talk time
5. Appointments based on political, tribal…
@Zam. Which stadia? I thot these were Levy’s initiatives?
…. tribal or family affiliation
6. Abusing police and other state machinery to intimidate critical citizens
7. Political disorder within PF etc.
8. Debt levels going up (not sure of the sustainability of such debt)
There is still time for PF to work on their weaknesses before 2016 and be re-elected.
Now tht is very fair and objective.Ya ! They need to clean up here and there,don’t worry cleaning programme is underway.
Yes bwana Shamenda,me too i can pass if set my own exam,select all the questions and mark my own exam.Please tell us another fairy tale Shamenda.
Shamenda’s thinking and urgument is as ugly as his face. Keep on singing those songs of praises for your President and his failed government but one day and very soon, you will be surprised to find yourselves in the opposition or just as ordinary men. What is it that you can boast about as PF ? The best description we can give you is that of an autocratic government and your President is not different from Idi Amin, Mossollini or Hitler including you his bakandile. So,stop annoying us more but keep your s.i.l.l.y comments to your own self.
PF IS A FAILED PROJECT.SHAME ON THE PF AND HANDS UP TO HIS EXCELLENCE HH THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED PART FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.(UPND)
I don’t think so boss!
Shamenda, please save us from this idiocy! HH did not talk about only one language as reported by your Post. In any case you are trying to respond to the Catholic Bishops without acknowledging their concerns. You are such a bunch of clueless cowards and are dead scared of HH. By the way, it is not just HH or the Catholic Bishops holding this view; it is the majority Zambians and so please stop patronizing us by saying ‘well meaning Zambians’. Your government is useless at best!
This is disappointing indeed.
“We have had peaceful elections and transitions from one Government to another since independence.”
Really, what of the 18 years of one party rule under UNIP?
You would have thought in the absence of Mwansa Kapeya someone else would speak sense but NO – this confirms all these shameless mouth pieces are under the same directives. Ask RB come 2016 you won’t know what has hit you!
As a country we have moved on. To reintroduce local language in schools is like engaging a reverse gear. opening a Pandora s box if you will . It is like questioning why 3 of the Zambian official languages are coming from one province(North western) an idea which ended up deciding those ethic groups into fragments of the small tribes of luvale, lunda and kaonde as we know.them today. when at independence for example Luvale was as widely spoken as Tonga or lozi. its like what chiluba did by restoring the status of chiefs perhaps in good faith but today chiefs are always making headlines. Zambia seems to divided on tribal line it not by accident somebody created the problem and PF wants to add salt to injury. already there are reports of schools being closed because pupils can’t stomach…
You write as though belonging to a tribe is an offence! I support the reintroduction using local languages up to grade four that’s how I was taught and it worked , what we should be discussing is the implementation, while this bright pose a problem in urban areas it should be able to work in rural areas where most kids do not have access to nursery schools. And this simply means a teacher in rural tonga land uses tonga to teach and likewise in luuvale, Lunda Bemba mama we namwanga and so on hoping that by the time the kids reach grade four teachers will then start progressively using English, those of us who went to school inthe fifties and sixties don’t see anything wrong .that how we wre taught and guess what at grade twelve I got distinction in English! And we had no leakages!!
2016 PF and Michael Sata, we are voting for you. leave those writting bitter words alone.
@Chambishi….. leave me out and the rest of the well meaning zambians from your deception of Sata. Unless Sata does not doctor the constitution and fulfills his 90 day promises albeit late, he is history in a dustbin come 2016. He knows we defeated him during the third term debate which he championed and one party state he was pushing with KK…..check you historical facts on Sata.
Who is “we”. Speak for yourself! Say ‘I’ not we!!
Let’s hope Kapeya is studying something worthwhile in the States where he is as this guys do not know anything about public relations.
Questions:
(1) Why has PF suddenly changed over the constitution they talked about so much in their campaign?
(2) Why has Mmbe post quickly U turned on the 50%+1. During the reign of P.L. Mwanawasa MHSRP, the post supported the 50% +1 in their opinion column indicating that it was good for compromise and that it was good for the country to be put into power by one person with only 30% vote. But surprisingly in their Friday edition they have changed and started justifying their change with South Africa’s constitution. Any way we will see if Mmbe and his post will vote in 2016. This Chinsali chap………………………
MMD cannot be underrated, and M’membe should not think he is the person who will always shape people’s opinions.
Actually talking corruption, PF is displaying more corruption now than even what was in the MMD. So come 2016 people will revaluate MMD against PF performance, and many people will be amazed. Zambians will be better analysts in 2016 than they were in 2011 – mark my words.
MMD will surely prove a force by 2016.
Remember that KK gained more respect towards the end of MMD’s rule than he had at the start of MMD’s rule in 1991. What brought this scenario is reflection and revaluation.
It will be wrong to see things only in the light of yesterday and today. we must also allow our brain to see in the context of tomorrow and beyond in relation to yesterday and today
I was shocked and I’m still in shock about the implementation of use of local language as a medium of instruction in schools…this is the most senseless idea to mandatory impose on citizen. it has some element of segregation between children from the rich families and those from the poor.
I’m ngoni and my wife is bemba both working in solwezi. my wife and I can not speak even a word in Kaonde. in a years’ time we will be relocating to mongu and finaly will want to settle in Lusaka where our family house is…..what a confusion for my three year old son….what heritage or identity will he adopt or preserve…???
Shamenda should be ashamed of himself to be involved in active politics at his age with dementia now setting in.
A wise man knows when to keep his mouth shut; whereas a f.oo.l does not know when to keep his mouth shut. This is so appropriate a description of Shamenda. Actually, appropriate of nearly every man and woman in Sata’s PF government , come to think of it, starting with the chief honcho himself!
Of all the responses against Shamenda none appears to come from an objective person.They are all subjective and only a gullible 1 can agree with dat in de first place,secondly 2 what yo HH said.It is completely ranting from 1 who seem to be lost.
@Osmore…..are the Catholic fathers also ranting? Why has Sata and mumembe not responded to the valid observation of the clerics which have been amplified by HH? It’s you and Sata and Shame who are ranting trash….give the people the Constitution, reduce price of mealie meal by restoring subsidies, improve the economy and stop aimless borrowing to strengthen the Kwacha. The majority of Zambians, including Bemba aligned or identified, are not the fools you think they are!
@ Osmore
R U judging others about objectivity?
Hoping for the chair in IDC board of past failures? Or just trying to justify those few pieces of silver?
How can the usege of familier languages make Bemba the official language?When pipo accuse u of being a hardcore tribalist u cry.Why hate Bembas like that? YOUR HATE WILL KILL U BECAUSE NO NORMAL BEMBA WILL BOW DOWN BEFORE U, FO O L!
Papa Smurf is at it again. “Performed beyond expectation”. Really? On what planet?
#Bufi
pipo lets be realistic the truth of the mata z that pf z the working government,mmd was in power $ it did nothing.HH wil neva rule this nation he z 2 tribalic.electricity evry where beta roadnetwk since when in zambian history fyacitikepo.mwilapota bangwele muletashafye wen its due.