By Dr Lubinda Haabazoka

When President Hakainde Hichilema was arrested over the Mongu incident, I did not sleep that night. I saw the way Gary Nkombo was beaten and the stand off that happened until HH was finally located and arrested.

The person they were arresting was not just a person I knew from newspapers but it’s a person I personally knew and I was very convinced that he was not capable of treason. All his actions were just politics and a contest for popularity then.

Despite the situation of threatened Security, I was the first person to issue a statement against the arrest HH! This even gave courage to the catholics who issued a statement the following day! Those who were less than 18 years old by that time can go through the archives of the Mast Newspaper. The article was under the heading – “Do not fight those who can’t fight back”. The article condemned the arrest of HH and the suspension of UPND MPs! Some of the people that supported HH’s arrest are even serving in his government today!

In a similar situation today, I ask that we set aside differences that may exist and release Hon Mumbi Phiri. She is a grand mother and has health issues! We can’t arrest a person and keep them in suspense in the cells!

God will always give us that which we seek! But Gid is very particular on how we use that which he grants us. Authority should be used to improve people’s lives. Authority should be used to to unite people. Mumbi Phiri has not served in government for some time now. She can’t fight back! She has no authority. It’s of no use to treat her like that! If indeed she is guilty, a speedy trail is very important so that we prove to citizens that she is not being just victimised.

Most of the times people that will destroy leaders are those that surround him. There has to be a voice of reason even in times when we feel revenge is the best thing to happen.

When a society disintegrates into people releasing nudes of suspected government officials, it means the appetite for revenge and causing irreparable damage to others is at its highest!

Those in government should fix the decay in society. It’s their responsibility! To a leader and even to a citizen, there is no such things as PF or UPND or Socialist. These articles I have written before during MMD, PF and now under UPND! Let us search our conscious as a nation!

No wonder I don’t like going to church in Zambia. The hypocrisy is just too much! We bow down and pray to God with one eye open looking for whom to attack. Who to bring down next time! Let’s learn from United Arab Emirates. A country that seeks genuine greatness! A country that puts wealth creation and citizen empowerment at the top and not seeking to destroy wealth created by others!

You can hate me for what I have written but at least my conscious is clear! I will always stand for unity and love in the motherland! This is my country. It’s the only place no one can deport me from!!!

So my advice is that lets release Hon Mumbi Phiri! She can’t run away! She is an elderly woman! She retired from politics! Of what harm is she? She is a woman you were in parliament with! Someone you know? How do you want to be treated when you leave office?

The best people to get advice from are not that you are found with. In government it all becomes about self preservation. When parties just go into government, they are very popular. But Zambians can betray. When the number of injustices increase, they switch! Whoever thought Unip or MMD would lose porpularity? Who ever thought the mighty PF would lose elections? Citizens are selfish. It’s all about them! So let’s concentrate on them and leave Mumbi Phiri alone! Zambia has great potential and there are a lot of things we can do to galvanise more support for the leadership!
Knowledge speaks but wisdom listens…

Have a lovely Sunday

By Kapya Kaoma

Anthony Bwalya’s assuring words that “President Hichilema will not spend time to act on Ms. Chirwa’s nude videos because he is busy focusing on job creation” made my day. Bally’s intelligence and morals continue to shame his opponents. The President is not a pope, who should be addressing what adults choose to throw on social media. Like the President, our uncompromised DEC Director’s fight against corruption has no bearing on her pornographic material. Thanks again Mr. President–your judgment speaks to your unmatched integrity. Gotcha politics won’t distract our agenda–creation of jobs without morality is the way to go.

Bitter PF losers have sunk too low. Who on earth would celebrate the indignity of pornographic material linked to DEC Director? What she does with her body is none of your business–sex is a private matter unless it involves carnal knowledge against nature. I mean homosexuality or gayism! Aren’t we a Christian nation? And who doesn’t know that Bally wholeheartedly loves, trusts and supports Madam Chirwa. So how could he watch her pornographic material to make his own judgment? It is akin to watching obscene material from one’s own parents.

Misogyny is an established norm in politics–women are held to higher standards than their male counterparts. Pastors and politicians have had sexual scandals, and remain in office. Madam Chirwa is not a politician, a pastor nor a nun. She leads the Commission that demands integrity, I fully agree. But this issue is not about morality or integrity–it is about job creation and corruption. Didn’t Bally tell us that a clique has started fighting back? I am afraid that the click of tribalists, thieves and hegemonists have more videos to come. I won’t be surprised if Bally is the next target. But who cares? Sex is a private matter and Bally must stay away from it.

I opposed former Religious Minister Rev. Godfridah Sumaili’s crusade of forcing Christian values on the secular state. Now she is back calling on our beloved President to fire Madam Chirwa. Well, Rev. Sumaili fought so hard for Christian morals. Aside from fighting sex toys and “gayism,” she never fought against corruption. Why? The PF had no values when it came to stealing. Could it be that Madam Chirwa’s next catch is the Reverend herself?

I understand those calling it a scandal. I am saddened that our President is not calling for the investigation of the source of this material? Is this not cyber bullying, which is a crime in our Christian nation? But nonetheless I applaud President Hichilema’s refusal to address this fake scandal. We are in power and not in opposition. Our duty is to catch corrupt PF officials and not preach morality.

Fred M’membe’s wisdom that “seeking morality, [and] justice… without compassion is cruelty” is foolishness. There is no compassion when it comes to PF thugs. No wonder he supports gayism; the immoral act that Bally disavows. Regardless, does he know the source of this material? The police must investigate M’membe. Might he be the source? And where is Mr. Kajoba?

I am highly disappointed with the Inspector General of Police, Mr.Kajoba. Seriously he doesn’t deserve our President’s trust. When KBN Journalist Petty Chanda exposed the leaked audio between State House Aide Levy Ngoma and Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Joseph Akafumba, Kajoba did a great job. She was arrested. Didn’t Kajoba arrest attention seeker, Chilufya Tayali for claiming to have correspondence from the military? All these on the Cyber law of our saintly nation. So why is he silent on this obscene video? Doesn’t he know that the New Dawn administration is infected with PF cadres who must be locked up? Is he the source, or equally compromised by similar videos? It is hard to tell the mole from a rat in darkness. So our President must wake up before Kajoba finishes him.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter! Madam Chirwa has exceptional and unquestionable integrity. Nobody knows this truth better than Bally. It is one thing if the video involved homosexuality, or Iris Kaingu–the woman so proud to show off her nakedness. Wasn’t she recently arrested and charged for the crime of indecency? But this is about the DEC Director, for God’s sake. I am afraid that our President may be forced to fire her. But this is highly dangerous. Who knows other obscene videos involving the New Dawn administration or the Bally himself out there? More than anyone else, Bally believes that lies, credibility, morality and decency are the engine of the New Dawn machinery.

PF cadres, please seleniko tubombeko ba mambala!

By Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D. Emeritus Professor of Sociology

I was at a burial at the Leopards Hill cemetery in Lusaka the Capital City of Zambia in Southern Africa. It was somewhat quiet, tense and very sad as people were mourning as the dirt or soil was being poured into the grave of our beloved departed relative. In Zambian society, the Ngoni from the Eastern Province and the Bembas from the Northern Province has a chimbuya or grandfather and grandmothership. The two groups tease and joke about each other a lot in public, at weddings, and at funerals. This goes back to incidents between the two tribes or ethnic groups going back to the 1850s.

The deceased man we were burying was a very close Bemba man whom we can call Mulenga. The men who had an obligation to bury and pour soil or dirt into Mulenga’s grave were Ngoni Easterners. As they were piling the soil on the grave using shovels, there was a small dead mouse. Easterners eat mice. Suddenly the Ngoni man grabbed the mouse and tossed it on top of the grave mound saying: “Since Mulenga will be hungry in the grave, he will eat this mouse.” The mourners momentarily laughed right in the middle of a somber very tense serious moment.

I was watching the very serious January 6 Congressional Hearings because our nation’s democracy here in the United States is in danger whether you are aware of it or not. During the hearings, the witness Cassidy Hutchinson was creating a very convincing narrative of what happened in the White House during the January 6 riot, insurrection or should we call it an uprising now in the light of the new devastating information?

Cassidy Hutchinson described an incident in early December 2020 when the former President was apparently very angry at Attorney General Bill Barr when he said there was no wide spread fraud or any credible irregularities in the 2020 elections. The President allegedly smashed his lunch hamburger and french fries plate against the wall splattering the ketchup all over the White House dining room wall. Hutchinson found herself helping picking up the broken China pieces and helping the White House valet wipe the ketchup off the wall. I laughed very hard.

Cassidy Hutchinson said the former President expected to be driven to the Capital from his rally he had just addressed at the Ellipse. When the secret agent driver repeatedly refused and told the President No! “We are going back to the White House”, the President was so angry he allegedly lunged at the secret service driver grabbing the steering wheel or chidraivilo. When he was rebuffed, the President reached for the driver’s clavicle. At this point I just lost it, not in anger, but in serious belly rocking laughter. I found myself suddenly laughing very hard. I have not found anything to laugh at in the news these days about the country and the world. But why was I laughing?

First and foremost, we laugh during tense moments when something unexpected happens. Afterall, that is the secret behind all humor and comedy. But I began to ask myself how did we elect the leader of the most powerful country in the world who does these things in anger? We ordinary citizens who are mere mortals may express our temper that way. But it is not right. None of us ever condone this behavior. But then I began to ask myself whether the other 45 American Presidents could have done this in the White House? Would Presidents Biden, Obama, both Bushes, Clinton, Reagan, Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and JF Kennedy have engaged in this behavior? What about the Great President Lincoln from the 1860s?

My conclusion to all of this is that our character, integrity, and dignity is often reflected not in public big earth-shaking pronouncements and decisions, but rather if in anger we can lunge at a driver in the automobile if we don’t get our way; or if in anger we hurl our dinner plate against the wall splattering ketchup on it. One million Americans died of the Corona Virus pandemic when the former President was in charge. Let’s count our blessings that we did not have the Cuban Nuclear Missile crisis when the former President was in charge of the nuclear bombs code.