Happy New Year 2011

We thank all our esteemed site visitors and readership a great and Prosperous 2011. We look forward to your support in the New Year. God Bless you all in a mighty way.

The Lusaka Gossip

A "Wonder" that Is Zambia

When I reflect on the behaviour and the attitudes of politicians and the people of Zambia regarding corruption, I get incredibly disappointed and angry at our failure to take decisive action at the misdeeds and misconducts of Zambian leadership. I believe that their negative attitudes can be attributed to their knowledge that Zambians lack capacity and resolve to fight against injustice and corruption concertedly in a manner that would send a message that the people of Zambian are tired of all the hoopla that goes on in the nation. What is wrong with this picture? It is clear that the majority of us are afraid of confronting the system and getting embroiled in skirmishes and running battles with the illegitimate government and its institutions that perpetuate injustices. As a people, fear will never get us anywhere, and politicians will forever continue to ride on our backs.

Are we just cowards that cannot fight their fight to change the way the Government is run? Are we blind to the wrongs committed? Or is it that we are backward in our understanding or simply fail to appreciate that we deserve better leadership and systems that could serve the nation in an upright manner? Whatever the case may be, I find it disconcerting that, year after year, nothing changes in terms of improved leadership but we continue to retrogress to the era of the First Republic when we feared the state machinery were constantly snooping on us. It is amazing and at best a wonder why we predispose ourselves at the mercy of politicians that think only of themselves and their immediate family interests. In their minds, they must view us as collateral so much that we only become remotely useful or assets when they seek re-election. Are we ever going to change this perception?

It is also amazing how we fail to follow through issues that affect us to the extent that we are quick to put the issues behind us even in situations where a particular has hardly been resolved. A perfect example concerns corruption cases involving several leaders and civil servants that have betrayed the trust that the people of Zambia vested in them by misappropriating public funds. It is a wonder, too, why we seem to hold in esteem thieves, leaders and individual civil servants, that have robbed the poor thus denying them a decent existence. At worst, it is disgusting that such thieves can even brag and regard themselves as rich and successful when they know all too well that their "wealth" was illegally obtained.

Time is overdue for us to start engaging the system aggressively to foster uprightness. Thieves regardless of their level and status in our society, must not be tolerated or entertained. It is hign time that we started viewing Zambia as a  basket in which we all share common interest in what goes on and it's ultimate success. If we fail to realize that and also fail to adopt an aggressive approach to addressing aggravating Zambian issues, it will be hard, if not impossible, to achieve meaningful development where the interest of the people will be considered as paramount.

Africa: Painting a Façade of Democracy

While many parts of the world espouse open and unfettered democracies, where the people have the liberty to play an active part in shaping their destinies, Africa is forever riding a tide and roller coaster of vote manipulation and literary headed nowhere. Many countries in Africa are increasingly bringing scorn upon the continent whose politics are viewed as being far from open and independent. A case in point relates to questionable elections results in a number  of  African countries; namely Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In these countries, elections were a sham and results contested largely because incumbent presidents were believed to have had manipulated votes to rob their opponent of deserved victory. These scenarios are all too common in Africa that it is a foregone conclusion that any presidential election is rigged even before the date. Like Zambia, Ivory Coast is also another African country that has become notorious for vote rigging where a losing incumbent has the audacity to declare himself as a winner.

One wonders why African leaders shamelessly see fit to engage in the despicable act of cheating at the polls. It is clear that "free and fair" does not feature in the minds of many a African leaders. As a matter of fact they are not bothered by lack of credibility. Take the case of Ivory Coast in which the country's Constitutional Council, led by Paul Yao N'Dre, invalidated earlier results by the Electoral Commission that named the former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, the winner. What makes incumbent African presidents have the insatiable desire to manipulate the votes? Is it by virtue of the understanding that the citizenry are impotent and cannot do anything? Do they fear that the law would catch up with them over their misdeeds while they were in office if they accepted defeat and stepped down? Do they fear what they only know they have done that the people don't know about? Why are African leaders devoid  of a sense of shame? Using underhanded methods to gain or stay in power is retrogressive to Africa's fragile democracies. At worst this repugnant behaviour will lead to more strife in Africa. What we call democracy in Africa is a mere façade inasmuch as the will of the people is contemptuously derided by selfish, greedy and power hungry politicians that choose to usurp power to perpetuate the rule.

Veteran Politician Sikota Wina weighs in on the Barotseland Agreement

One cannot blame some politicians that may may have a desire to take advantage of misguided sentiments arising from a few disgruntled elements that hail from Western Province. We all understand that politics is about seizing opportunities that irresponsible citizens present to constituencies. The majority of politicians enjoy taking advantage of such situations for purposes of not only achieving political mileage but also votes. One begins to wonder of what value the education of some of our colleagues in the Diaspora that are championing this senseless notion of Western Province's secession from Zambia.

The people agitating for secession of Western Province are just knuckleheads and selfish imps. The Zambian constitution provides for every citizen regardless of tribe,origin, creed and religious orientation to express their views freely and aspire for the highest office in the land without let or hindrance. However, some of our fellow learned Zambians living in the comfort of the diaspora are unjustifiably working to foment terrorism in Zambia. Education becomes meaningless and irrelevant if such individuals cannot use their education to carefully study the Barotse Agreement to better apply the knowledge in a wise and beneficial manner for one and all. Selfishness has that ugly the tendency to blind people from reality. Also, it is imperative that these people, forthwith, stop pandering to violent interests.

Suffice to say that it is gratifying to have our Veteran Politician Sikota Wina step in to share his knowledge, understanding and historical perspective of the Barotseland Agreement. Many Zambians have taken time to study the Barotseland Agreement in the form it was at the time of signing in London on May 8, 1964. Former President Kaunda and Sir Mwanawina Lewanika III appended their signatures to the agreement. The Agreement states that "Whereas it was the wish of the Goovernment of Northern Rhodesia and that of Litunga of Barotseland, his council and the chiefs and people of Barotseland and Northern Rhodesia, should proceed to independence as one country and that its entire people should be one nation".  The Agreement was written in no ambiguous terms for any level-headed person to understand. We applaud Veteran Politician Sikota Wina for weighing in on the issue to render his understanding of the Agreement. He has stated that the Agreement makes continuous reference to Barotseland as a integral part of the Republic of Zambia.

It is our hope that disgruntled miscreants living in the United States and other parts of the dispora will not continue to use their selfishness interests to foment chaos for the peace loving Zambians of Western Province and the rest of Zambia. Failure to understand the whole context of the Barotseland Agreement can be a recipe for chaos. It is inexcusable and repugnant for a learned person to fail tunderstand and interpret a clearly formulated Agreement.

Growing Desire for Secession from Zambia

The tendency to want to breakaway from Zambia has been long coming and is not in the least surprising. The whole misguided notion that the British signed an agreement with Lewanika for the country to attain independence from Britain is absurd inasmuch as the British did not own Zambia. Zambia belonged to Zambians and for one person to think that the colonialists had the right to give power to one selfish individual is ridiculous and stupid. It is totally insane for some individuals from Western province to continue to harbour those far-fetched notions that Britain gave them a right to, at a later stage, start advocating for a separate independent state. 


It must be clear from the outset that Zambia and Zambians existed long before the British came to colonize us. It can be seen that the driving motivation to the call for secession is the deep rooted tribal characteristic that we all too familiar with.  Some of the individuals advocating and writing for secession are living in America and maybe in the United Kingdom and is a cowardly act. The recent write-up was merely academic with the intent to incite those that do not think outside those tribal boxes. This adventure by our learned colleague is a very dangerous one. It is likely to turnout into a disaster which will negatively impact innocent Zambians living in Western province and other provinces of Zambia. 


We all know about the desire for these people to have a country in which only one language will be recognized and other non-language speakers shall be called makwerekwere. What sort of freedom of expression have this or these individuals been  denied in Zambia? Is it freedom to have a one-language nation? We are aware that the majority from the province do not share these late silly ideas and neither do they want to be manipulated by individuals who think they are fighting for their freedom when living comfortably in Europe and America. It is not their immediate family members who will be caught up in the cross-fire but ordinary Zambian citizens.


Many of us have wonderful, educated friends that hail from Western province and will be a sad reality if their counterparts continued to push for the unacceptable secession. This development will be a relationship and game changer at the same time. How then will we deal with our friends knowing that their own are advocating for violence and separation? Developments like this dictate that we all make conscious choices about how to deal with such unfortunate selfishness from a handful of people. The spectre of civil as advocated for by our learned friend will unnecessarily introduce elements of suspicion such that innocent Zambians from Western province will be viewed as potential troublemakers or terrorists and terrorists have to be dealt with a sledge hammer.


Secessionist must take this as a timely warning that Zambia will not entertain their ill-conceived idea and deal with the situation with kid gloves. If they want a country of their own, let them go to Britain and have the British give them a piece of the UK. Zambia is a unitary state and we will not allow selfishness to bring chaos to the nation.