Mr.President,
This is not Politics. It’s not about winning or losing elections. It is about saving Zambian lives.
I write this, knowing well that I may sound like a lonely voice in the wilderness or a broken record, but I will say it again.
Mr President, the current interventions we have put in place to stop the spread of the Coronavirus are grossly insufficient. The city center, market places, compounds, public transportation have remained crowded. We MUST lock down Lusaka for a period of time to help us put in place measures that shall curtail the virus from spreading across the country. We still have a small window to achieve this.
This is the third warning we are giving to government. We should not be deceived by the few numbers of infections we are announcing at the press briefings. This virus is deadly and we don’t have capacity to deal with a fully blown pandemic.
COVID-19 may be the burial ground for the PF government. If the virus is not contained and the country begins to lose unprecedented number of lives, no Zambian shall forgive the PF government because they have been warned several times.
The government has only now, announced the mandatory wearing of masks. As important as this measure is, more than ten million of our people cannot afford these masks. Government has made no adequate arrangements to provide these masks for the poor who are the most vulnerable.
We urge government to adopt a systematic way of distributing the masks. We encourage the private sector, churches to play their part in providing masks to the most vulnerable, but government must lead the way.
The perception of wide circles of our society is that Patriotic Front Party, your party has jumped on this unfortunate vulnerability to make masks using their campaign material.
Mr.President, we would like remind you that Zambians consider all such acts being carried out by senior or prominent members of the ruling party as insensitive, immoral and an abuse of power.
Lastly, Mr.President, we do realise that any serious attempts to lock down the epicentre WILL require serious resources that can adequately cover the cost of feeding or distributing food packs to communities in affected areas.While this is at a huge cost, the cost of dealing with a fully blown pandemic will be much much worse and it will be completely UNMANAGEABLE.
The success of this life or death exercise lies in its being apolitical and free from limited partisan interests. I end with a quote from the WHO Director General, “ Please do not politicize the COVID-19 fight other wise you shall end up with more body bags. Please quarantine politics away from this fight..”
Again, for the third time, Mr President , shut down the most affected cities and contain this virus and let us fight this invisible enemy together.
Yours in the fight,
Nevers Sekwila Mumba
MMD, President
Amen!!!
Overcrowding is the major challenge in Lusaka. The Wholesales for Groceries in Lusaka are mostly overcrowded and the owners (Indians mostly) are not doing much about it because they are only interested in high sales. Most of these shops have poor air circulation. Can the Lusaka City Council/ Police do something about this? We have seen a bit of change for buses but not so much for Wholesales for Groceries and Markets. Why should the Law Enforcing Agents let Bowman Lusambo solely spearhead the fight against the spread of Covid 19?
Mr Mumba when are you organising your party as mmd is just a name ?
We don’t have the capacity to maintain a lockdown as our people
Require day to day running of our
Homes as Dora said.
It will make Europe look like a walk in the park.
The best is to advocate for a total lock-down, state the consequences and then provide mitigation measures to put in place! Everyone knows total lock down is the only way but there are dire consequences. There are ongoing protestations against imposed lock down in big economy states in the US
Government has done its part. there is only the KKIA as the entry point for flights into the country. Only one airline is flying in and out – Ethiopian Airways. Testing and surveilance has been put in place. MMD, in particular you Mr. Nevers Mumba need to come up with how the country should deaT with the effects of the lock-down The individuals MUST do their part with self discipline and quarantining themselves and enforce the advised safety and precautionary measures by health care workers.
Mr…
…Mumba address the people who are unable to observe basic social distancing measures and go a step further to donate face masks and sanitizers to the 10 million you have identified as poor and cannot afford the PPE. You are saying “let’s not politicize the COVID 19 fight but that is exactly what this letter is abo
Amen mr Mumba those are the words we expect our president to receive from opposition parties.
No need of politics and campaigning during this deadly time of pandemic.
All in all put God first as a healer of our great nation Zambia.
Stop writing nonsense and start acting now. Ask the president what you can do for Zambia and start working now.
Just righting letter no action. What sort of leader is he. Four me I am in the ground fighting covid 19. What is ba mumba doing?
Brother lusambo I agree with you. You are the epitome of what citizens should be like. You have taken the fight of this virus personally and are showing resilience to implement the presidents directive. The saying goes don’t ask what government can do for you , rather what can you do for your government. Mumba can continue writing letters like a pen pal while we fight this virus.
Bowman Chilosa Lusambo can’t even write proper English grammar what is he doing as a leader? How can he deal with complex Covid 19 if simple grammar is too hard for him?
Covid 19 has this uncanny ability to expose all sorts of weaknesses. Countries with multi million dollar budgets with aircraft carriers etc run out of 50 cents masks/gloves, citizens will surely question that. Overcrowded prisons will be exposed. We can’t get IMF assistance coz we are a middle class country but can’t afford a lockdown, this will be exposed. In the end only time will tell if our priorities have been good or not. 2gether we can beat this. Stay home & be safe if you can, God bless Zambia.
Also Mr Mumba, donate some of the money you stole from the Zambia shall be saved fimo fimo and in Canada by buying face masks to the venerable. Other than just writing letters, stand up from you asss and act. This not biblical time were Paul kept writing letters to the Corinthians.
UKULANDA KWALYANGUKA UKUCHILILA UKUCHITECHIT
Dr Mumba you tell the president that the city center, market places, compounds, public transportation have remained crowded. We MUST lock down Lusaka for a period of time to help us put in place measures that shall curtail the virus from spreading across the country.
You have advised governmement several times you should also advise people several times to:
1. Wash your hands frequently and carefully
2. Avoid touching your face
3. Stop shaking hands and hugging people — for now.
4. Don’t share personal items
5. Cover your mouth and nose when you cough and sneeze
6. Clean and disinfect surfaces
7. Take social distancing seriously
8. Do not gather in groups
9. Avoid eating or drinking in public places
10. Wash fresh vegetables and…
10. Wash fresh vegetables and fruits with white vineagar
11. Wear a (homemade) mask and wash it with soap after using it.
12. Self-quarantine if sick
13. Self-quarantine if you visit Lusaka or Kafue
14. Lockdown yourself do not wait for government. (STAY HOME)
None of these is mention by you
From your writings it seems you know why the government has not gone for your advise and others which finance minister statedin the first briefing, FOOD PACKAGES. You do realise that any serious attempts to lock down the epicentre WILL require serious resources that can adequately cover the cost of feeding or distributing food packs to communities in affected areas. While this is at a huge cost, the cost of dealing with a fully blown pandemic will be much much worse and it will be completely…
While this is at a huge cost, the cost of dealing with a fully blown pandemic will be much much worse and it will be completely UNMANAGEABLE. Even the cost of feeding or distributing food packs to communities is UNMANAGEABLE. You even said that COMPOUNDS HAVE REMAINED CROWDED. Maybe if we are supported by various donors. MAYBE
The BEST is locking down ourselves.
With due respects “we mwina Chinsali” the pen is, in this case, not mightier than the sword. Where’s your” cha-cha” spirit?
The vaccine which could be a definite cure to this virus might be 18 months away. That is in about the same time Zambia is going to have elections.
A complete lockdown is not a solution if you are looking at such a long time, especially for a country like Zambia that has limited options. A partial lockdown, more like what they are doing now will work out just fine. We know now that out of 100 people how get infected, 80 will be asymptomatic, 15 will show symptoms while 5 will be serious cases. Now unlike at the beginning of the pandemic the 5 serious cases will not always die. May be 1 or 2. But you can see that it is not that bad. Despite that people need to take precautions.
This is a sensible letter from the MMD leader. We’re extremely vulnerable. All mistakes of the past in which we hv allowed shanties all over the place will now come to haunt us. Hw does govt impose its will in settlements without roads? On this one I support Mr Nevers Mumba.
A letter to the President from St. Mumba…….Kikikikiki. Ukafumya kwisa indalama yama food packs for Lusaka? Abanobe ba bali donetako at least to soap no ma sanitizer. Iwe waikalafye ulelembafye. Chitako ka donation naiwe kabili. Bomfyako utumadola twa ku Canada.
Chinua Achebe…..kee writing
FROM BBC
Many African countries have introduced lockdowns in order to halt the spread of coronavirus, but, as Alex de Waal and Paul Richards argue, ordinary people have to be involved in choosing the solutions that will work for them.
Countries on the continent have learned much from tackling epidemics such as HIV and Ebola that should be put to good use as they face the impact of Covid-19.
China, Europe and North America have all adopted much the same epidemic control policy: lockdown. African governments followed suit, but in general lockdowns may be simply unworkable in the continent. Only a few African countries, such as Rwanda and South Africa, have the capacity to administer a centralised strategy. For people living from day to day, reliant on earning cash in the market to…
My fellow country men and women this Covid 19 in Africa you people are politicking about is a serious issue.Take a good example from Britain a rich nation with a large number of recorded deaths a Lockdown has had a very huge effect on people’s livelihoods and with help from government only starting in June.i see some political party leaders issuing so silly statements.Running a country is not like running your business or katemba.if Covid-19 hits Zambia like Italy I wonder how it’s going to be contained.Lusambo is being condemned because most of your people you are taking this Covid-19 as joke here we are feeling the pinch and it’s effects.Dr Nevers Mumba get involved in coming up wit help than criticism.This Covid-19 is no joke
Dr. Mumba is on point. Lusambo can’t be using the law within himself to beat people.
In the same way you are saying that people can’t afford a lockdown, the same people can’t afford masks
A lockdown brings economic disadvantages that are not easy to bear for a country like ours. A combination of measures (social distancing, face masks, personal hygiene etc.) if strictly enforced has the same effects as a lockdown.
A good example is Sweden – they decided not to lock down but to use a more liberal approach by appealing for responsible conduct to the citizens. The result has not been worse than Italy and Spain, as the experts predicted. They have had 14, 385 cases out of a population of 10 million. Only the death rate was high at 1540 but the situation has stabilised.
You cannot start your message to your leader by saying that the actions that he has taken to address a serious problem are “grossly insufficient”. The whole message is compromised by such a careless statement.
ITS BEATS ME HOW ZAMBIANS CAN SUPPORT MEDIOCRITY AND GOVERNMENT FAILURES. ATI GOVERNMENT DOES NOT HAVE RESOURCES. BLA BLA IS UNMANAGEABLE. FWITITI FWITITI IS UNMANAGEABLE. HOW COME NAMIBIA , AN AFRICAN COUNTRY IS GIVING CASH HANDOUTS TO THE VULNERABLE. HOW COME RWANDA IS GIVING FOOD PACKS. WHY IS IT THAT GOVERNMENT HAS NO RESOURCES. KAIZAR, EXPLAIN WHY. ………OTHERS BRING IN “GOD”. GOD GAVE U EVERYTHING , YOU MESS UP BECAUSE OF GREED AND THEN YOU PRAY. MY CONCLUSION IS THAT A NUMBER OF BLOGGERS ON LT ARE PAID PF CADRES. A NORMAL PERSON CAN NOT SUPPORT GOVERNMENT FAILURE IN THE NAME OF POLITICS!! NO WONDER AN IMPORTANT TOPIC LIKE THIS ONE HAS 36 VIEWS, MOSTLY CADRES.
Reference Monde, most of wholesalers including trade Kings profiteerung from Covid-18 are Islamists. K28 million donation to PF is from duty free importbof alcohol by the Islamists to sell in black market and a fraction used for making overpriced hand sanitisers