The Zambia Conference for Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) have expressed sadness over the death of the First Republican President Kenneth Kaunda.

ZCCB Archbishop of Kasama Ignatius Chama says the country has lost a freedom fighter, and a true statesman, who united the nation and rendered a selfless service to the country.

He stated that Dr Kaunda has left a legacy of unity of knitting the various tribes into a united country, as well as inspiring Zambians to celebrate their unity in diversity by following the One Zambia One Nation motto.

Reverend Chama added that Dr Kaunda was a Pan African leader who greatly cared for Africa and played a pivotal role in the liberation struggle of countries in Southern Africa and beyond.

‘’He led by example in terms of servant leadership and hard work, and he was never tired of preaching the primacy and significance of God’s and of one’s neighbor,’’ he said.

We therefore convey our deepest condolences and sympathies to the bereaved family, President Edgar Lungu and his government as well as the people of Zambia who are mourning his demise,’’ stressed Rev. Chama.

He further encouraged the people of Zambia to mourn the fallen hero, by embracing the national values of love, peace and unity which he labored to inculcate into the fabric of the nation.

‘’Our prayer is that the good Lord may reward and receive him into his heavenly kingdom for the valuable services rendered to his beloved country, the African continent and the world at large. We also commend him to God’s mercy for all the failings he might have committed,’’

‘’Comforted by the words in the scriptures that “God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (I Thess. 4:14b), we call upon the Kaunda family and the entire nation to remain united in prayer and strengthen one another in faith.

Late President Kenneth Kaunda died on June 17, 2021 at Maina Soko Military Hospital in Lusaka where he was being treated for pneumonia.

This is contained in a statement made available to ZANIS today by ZCCB Archbishop of Kasama Rev. Ignatius Chama.

Meanwhile, Catholic Diocese of Solwezi Bishop Charles Kasonde has described late first Republican President, Kenneth Kaunda as a patriot, who worked tirelessly for Zambia and its people.

Bishop Kasonde said that Dr Kaunda will be fondly remembered and honoured for leading the emancipation of Zambia from independence in 1964, and ensuring that freedom and peace defined the existence of the entire nation.

“Whenever he moved you would see him waving with a white piece of cloth. The handkerchief signaling purity and peace, the peace that he stood for.

We mourn his passing on to the heavenly spheres, because he was the nation’s founding father and a great leader at that.” Bishop Kasonde said.

Bishop Kasonde noted that Dr Kaunda continued being a father to the nation, even after he retired from politics, and also constantly offered himself to consultation, from both political players from within the country and beyond.

The Bishop explained that, although Dr Kaunda is gone, the country will remain with his good attributes, which include standing for the promotion of peace and tranquility across the African continent.

He said the late Dr Kaunda was a Pan-African, who inspired millions on the African continent and fought for the freedom of many of Zambia’s neighbouring countries.

Bishop Kasonde added that a number of countries have shared the fruits of his labour as a result of his generosity and availability, stating that Zambians are proud to be aligned with the success of the first Republican President.

Vice President Inonge Wina has sternly warned all political party cadres that in order to respect late First Republican President Kenneth Kaunda’s legacy, no party regalia or party symbols of any kind, including party-branded facemasks, will be allowed during the mourning period.

Speaking today when she announced the burial program, Mrs Wina further cautioned that in order to accord the late Founding Father respect and dignity, and while showing love and support to the family, with strict compliance to the COVID-19 health guidelines, no physical body viewing will be done.

The Vice President explained that the proceedings will be televised live on the national broadcaster, on social media and on radio, for the millions of Zambians to follow, in order to avoid mass gatherings.

Mrs Wina said President Edgar Lungu has reiterated the need for the country to mourn its Founding Father with dignity, respect and calm, deserving of the great man he was.

The remains of late First Republican President Kenneth Kaunda will be taken to all the 10 provinces of Zambia, in honour of the first family’s wish.

Mrs Wina said the programme for the regional visits will begin with Choma district in Southern Province on Wednesday June 23rd 2021, and end with Lusaka Province on Monday, July 5th 2021.

Mrs Wina also revealed that the programme for the provincial visits, which will be conducted in the ten provincial capitals, will be availed to the general public in due course.

She noted that in all the ten provincial capitals, a short Church ceremony will be conducted by the military personnel, in conjunction with the United Church of Zambia (UCZ), to which the late Dr. Kaunda belonged.

The Vice President emphasized that physical attendance to the provincial Church gatherings will be extremely limited and short in nature.

President Edgar Lungu declared a 21 day mourning period for late First Republican President Kenneth Kaunda who was born on April 28th, 1924, and died on June 17, 2021 at the age of 97.

Dr Kaunda will be put to rest on Wednesday July 7th 2021, at a very private ceremony for family and selected invited mourners, to be held at the Presidential burial site in Lusaka.

Publicising videos of children singing praises of presidential candidates is not child participation but pure exploitation of children through manipulation and mere tokenism of the children’s rights to be heard in matters that concern them. Contrary to some Patriotic Front self-styled think tanks who claim that the girl child singing asking God to guide and bless President Lungu, in a video that has purportedly gone viral, is exercising her right to be heard as provided for in articles 12 to 15 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention provides for respect for the child’s views giving due weight to the child’s age and maturity. This principle in the child rights framework requires that before adults in children’s lives and government officials make any decision that effect children, the children ought to be given an opportunity to give their opinion on the issue and their views be taken into consideration as the final decision is made.

Provisions 12 to 15 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child quoted as supporting the child’s right to sing praises to God beseeching the Almighty God to bless President Chagwa Lungu are a mischievous spin or total ignorance of their normative content. At the pain of sounding didactic the cited provisions obligates the government in imperative terms to (article 12) provide the child the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child; (article 13) provides the child the right to freedom of expression which include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice; (article 14) the government to respect the child’s rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and (article 15) the rights of the child to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful assembly. These are the same freedoms that are guaranteed to all of us human beings but the difference with the children is that children’s agency evolves with age and maturity therefore for someone to claim that the child was exercising her civil rights and freedoms, agency has to be proved. For example, did the child compose and sing the song on her own? Who took the video? Who uploaded the video? If not the child, then the child was exploited by the adults who participated in these machinations.

Child participation is about talking, listening to, encouraging and supporting children to contribute, and following up on their thoughts and ideas but at the same time being open, honest and realistic with them on the degree of involvement they can have.

Exploiting children to appeal to voters’ emotions is not original nor creative. It has been done several times with the most common form kissing babies or the gross PF acts in past Chilanga by election of campaigners bathing children exploiting their parents’ poverty of not having indoor bathrooms that would accord the children their right to privacy that the PF Cadre that eulogized the girl child’s video deliberately left out. We want to remind all cadres and politicians that children’s rights are interdependent, interrelated and indivisible. The children’s rights cannot be cherry picked.

It is incredulous that a government that has continuously failed the girl child in Zambia as empirically established by the African Child Policy Forum’s 2020 Girl-Friendliness Index with Zambia scoring very low being placed among the less girl friendly countries in Africa. From the findings of the Index the Zambian girl has been failed by the PF government in reducing hunger with malnutrition high among 31% of under five girls stunted. Additionally, one in every four girls aged 12 to 24 months not having received basic vaccinations. Public social protection expenditure at a miserly 0.7% of the Domestic Gross Product the lowest in Africa and low birth registration. The report also cites high child marriage at 29% of girls married before their 18th birthday and teenage pregnancies abound. With all these government failures robbing Zambian girls of their future, why would the child sing to God to bless the incumbent President of Zambia?

Judith Mulenga

Zambia Civic Education Association

Executive Director

The Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has escalated its initiative to decentralize its services to underserved regions, especially rural districts.

The RTSA Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Gladwell Banda has disclosed that the Agency has in the last ten (10) months devolved some of its road licensing functions such as payment of road tax and motor vehicle roadworthiness to eleven (11) local authorities across the country.

Mr. Banda said the RTSA is leveraging the presence and the role of local government authorities to provide greater reach and reduce the burden and cost of citizens accessing RTSA services.

“This initiative is meant to extend our footprint to districts without RTSA presence. We have commissioned selected RTSA services over the last ten months to eleven districts namely; Lundazi, Nyimba, Mbala, Mwense, Kafue, Luangwa, and Mumbwa. Others are Kapiri Mposhi, Mwinilunga, Kabompo and Kasempa. The RTSA will target to cover more underserved regions and during this period we also opened three RTSA offices in Petauke, Serenje, and Mokambo Border,” he said.

And Kasempa District Commissioner Chanda Mali has hailed the RTSA and Government for taking services closer to the people.

The trajectory of the decentralization programme is underpinned under the National Transport Policy through the Ministry of Transport and Communications and is in line with the Government’s Seventh National Development Plans (7NDP) and the Vision 2030 which is a long term plan that expresses the aspirations of the Zambian people to live in a dynamic and middle-income industrial nation that provides the well-being of all by harnessing opportunities for economic growth.