Letters to the editor

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 13:24:32 +0000

It is payback time even in the pitch darkness of a graveyard

Dear Editor,

The story of Senior Chief Mukuni daring Government to arrest him saying, “I don’t fear prison, I have slept at a graveyard in pitch darkness before; where Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo can’t survive even for two minutes”, the pitch darkness bit of the graveyard story sent shivers down my spine.

 Awareness about this stunt prompted other opposition leaders in the country to condemn the Senior Chief that he was wrong to scare government officials with stories of sleeping at a graveyard which could be best described as intimidating (“It’s shameful”, Daily Nation, July 15, 2017).

However, his excesses are well documented – and his taste in luxury cars, beautiful women and ‘Bantu Botatwe’ ethnicity are the stuff of legend. Perhaps Zambia has gotten used to the eccentrics of the Toka-Leya’s reigning monarch. An ominous sign for ‘His Royal Highness’ was the incarceration earlier this year of UPND president Hakainde Hichilema. Now, it is no secret that Hakainde Hichilema’s obstinate refusal to concede defeat in the 2016 polls and recognize Edgar Lungu’s sixth Zambian presidency was through the backing of some pretty powerful allies – among them the Toka-Leya senior chief.

And as Zambia’s parliament approved a 90-day state of emergency decreed by President Edgar Lungu deepens, and as the number of arrests of suspected UPND arsonists continues to grow, Zambia Police will find itself with even more room to flex its muscles in the coming 90-days.

That’s bad news for Senior Chief Mukuni. The problem for the regent is three-fold.

Firstly, his chiefdom and areas across the Livingstone tourist capital metropolis are almost completely enveloped by law enforcement investigations into a myriad of recent infernos brazenly set ablaze at urban markets, public property and state buildings.

Thirdly – and critically – he also has to contend with the ruling party, the PF which is agitating for the arrest and arraignment of suspected UPND arsonists.

Things are about to get interesting as the senior chief is considered and treated as a cadre of the UPND by PF supporters rather than a traditional leader.

The motif has a familiar ring about it in Southern Province: an autocratic political leader refuses to give an inch to his political opponents while his regional peers and regents treat him with kid gloves.

The Toka-Leya’s senior chief may not have captured the attention of the world like the incarcerated UPND president but – in these trying political times – he may just be the morsel Hakainde Hichilema throws to his political foes and the police to keep them temporarily off his back.

But, all in all, it is payback time even in the pitch darkness of a graveyard.

Mubanga Luchembe,

LUSAKA

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Chief Mukuni needs deliverance

Dear Editor,

Your informative paper should be commended for reporting issues affecting our mother Zambia without fear or favour.

As for our shameless Senior Chief Mukuni, he can sleep in and at a million graves for that matter, and no one will care.

Our beloved Edgar Chagwa Lungu believes in the Lord as ably said by Lusaka youth chair Kennedy Kamba.

 Ba Mukuni, mwatisebania maningi. Some of us your subjects are disgusted and embarrassed by your ungodly behaviour.

My only appeal to all Zambians is that such people like ba Mukuni should be prayed for strongly for him to come out of darkness.

He needs Jesus Christ in his heart and only then can he think rightly.

God protect our mother Zambia from powers of darkness. Amen!

P.C.I. Lusaka.

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What has excited Catholic Bishops over HH?

Dear Editor,

That President Lungu has allowed Catholic bishops to visit incarcerated UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema, this should not in any way temper with the law process.

The Church in Zambia has not helped much to promote peace because, like the Catholic bishops led by Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu, it has not been neutral in its approach to national hot issues.

Such demonstration does not add any value to any searches for peace in the nation.

I am also full of suspicion that their visit to Mukobeko is merely to secure the release of HH and if that is their prime aim of the visit, then they are better off not going at all.

Even their mere excitement over HH really puzzles me because they are fully aware of what the man did in Mongu, but they chose to keep quiet all together.

That they chose not to condemn HH action in Mongu raises a lot of doubts in my mind as their sincerity and motives for seeking President Lungu’s permission to visit HH in Kabwe.

The church should always play the role of a referee not otherwise as we witnessed recently in our country.

And while still on the matter, I strongly feel that the bishops should take the opportunity to advise HH to accept the 2016 poll results and recognize President Lungu as Head of State.

After all even the church was in agreement that President Lungu indeed won the presidential elections in that year through its parallel monitoring mechanism.

They should not be excited over nothing if they have to win the confidence of ordinary Zambians because they have a big assignment upon their shoulders

They should also advise HH to tell his UPND MPs to behave by the book because as they in minority they are totally in a miserable situation in the House.

Our parliament can and will function at full speed without them. It has the majority of MPs to change laws as need arises, so who is the loser in the end?

HH and his MPs should learn to humble themselves before their masters, the Zambians who put them in power and not to start behaving like some tin-pot dictators.

Whichever way one looks at UPND MPs, they are losers in the long run. They even risk being expelled altogether if they continue with that unbecoming behaviour.

The nation will be waiting to hear from the Bishops after they visit HH in prison.

They should report back with full measures to lessen or stop the nonsense (fires and acts of sabotage) taking place in our country.

They say one word is enough to a wise person.

Josiah Soko,

Salima Road, Matero