Letters to the editor

Fri, 19 May 2017 10:19:33 +0000

Dear Editor,

The talk about tension in the country coming from such leaders as Vernon Mwaanga is very unpatriotic and misleading. Equally the effort by Saccord to equate the arrest of HH as a national crisis is misleading.

There is no tension in the country because there has been no cause. The arrest of one person for a criminal offence cannot be translated into a national political issue.

When late President Michael Sata was arrested and incarcerated in Chimbokaila on the political charge of inciting miners, no Bemba chiefs trooped to visit him in Prison and indeed no national prayers for peace and reconciliation were held at the cathedral.

More importantly there was no talk of tension in the country in spite of the fact Patriotic Front members were angry.

There has never been any other time when Zambians from any particular ethnic grouping have called for a mass manifestation to protest a insult allegedly hurled at the whole tribe.

Each person has borne their

Similarly, when former President Rupiah Banda was harassed by the cartel, no Eastern Province Chiefs trooped to the courts or indeed manifest their anger, although it was clear to all that he was facing bogus charges.

And yet today we hear of senior citizens, many them connected to the opposition talking about tension in the country and calling for dialogue.

What tension?

All Zambians have now had the privilege of seeing the circumstances under which some offences were committed. There is no doubt that the reasoning of those seeking for dialogue is to subvert the course of the law. This is wrong, because every person is personally accountable to the law.

Those who break the laws must account for their wrongdoing rather than attempt to politicise everything to a point where they want to emerge as heroes.

Lorraine Zimba

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Stop aliens from taking our land

Dear Editor,

Lands minister Jean Kapata has to double up her efforts to remove corruption her ministry.

If it is true that foreigners are paying huge amounts of money to acquire land in Zambia, that should extremely worry Ms Kapata. The explanations is simple. Corruption.

Money can buy anything, land included but if it begins to put citizens in a desolate position then it becomes a distressing matter which requires urgent attention.

Not that corruption in land acquisition is anything new in our country but when foreigners are taking advantaged of poverty to buy land fraudulently, it becomes something which should be stopped immediately.

Wars have been fought over land and Ms Kapata should take her cleaning assignment with the vigour it deserves before Zambians become aliens in their own country.

These foreigners want to use our land to make money which they will heartily ship back to their countries of origin for the benefit of their nationals.

These are shrewd land hunters and are ready to pay anything for it because they know that ultimately they will reap more.

I hope the ministry of lands will take this advice seriously and bring to book those Zambians involved in this land scam.

Foreigners too involved in shady land deals must feel the wrath of the law and face possible deportation to send the message to would-be offenders.

Thomas Mbewe, Kafue

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West support for HH outlandish

Dear Editor,

It has become a common accusation from the West that each time an opposition leader especially in Africa is arrested, that becomes an issue on their daily menus.

Is it therefore correct to let opposition off the hook even when they break the law?

Is it also possible that some of the opposition promise a lot to the outside world during their campaign trails?

It is strange some foreign countries are losing so much sleep over incarceration of Hakainde Hichilema instead of waiting for courts to do their part.

To hear from Britain that investors (I hope they mean British investors) are worried over HH is not only amazing but blatantly interference in the affairs of a sovereign State.

Strange again that it is some of these countries in West who have little or no investment in Zambia going but make the most and loudest noise-all in the name of democracy.

I am beginning to wonder whether Africa really needs democracy. Is democracy Africa’s way of living?

Personally I feel Africa did exceptionally well before the colonialists came over and spoiled her chances. They did so without the so-called democracy.

Why is it that the white still insist that we should live them when they cannot live like us? For instance why can’t they start having Chiefs, Senior Chiefs and Paramount Chiefs to balance the equation?

I remember a few years ago when a Russian diplomat to the Un laughed off the issues of democracy when he said the West thinks democracy is like perfume they they can  go about spraying anywhere they feel like. It simply does not stick.

They live in Europe and America and are white while we live in Africa and are black. We will simply never live the same lives. It is as naked as that no matter the high intellectual colonisation which is now the in thing.

I am sure the majority of Zambians will agree with me that those foreign countries who after HH’s freedom have little or no economic interest in Zambia.

I remember when the idea of TAZARA was mooted, the West thought it was a craze and impossible idea until the Chinese proved them wrong.

Yes it is China which has not failed our country. Yet at every corner of Zambia there are Chinese nationals busy putting economic infrastructure and they NEVER comment on internal affairs of this country.

Maybe the English maxim that barking dogs rarely bite could be true of some of our Western friends who only know criticism but help Zambia once after Christmas. A big shame indeed.

Of course I cannot forget the rock-hard support Zambia enjoys from Japan and the Scandinavian countries to mention but a few true helpers of Zambia. They have something they can point at in Zambia.

So my prayer to the big armchair critics is that they should leave us alone, and by the way Zambia cannot eat democracy which seems to be worrying them to marrow.

Morgan Chanda, Chelstone