By NATION REPORTER
THE Kusefya Pangw’ena traditional ceremony is supposed to be a symbol of unity for the people of Northern Province and reports that the event failed to attract the pomp and splendour of recent years because of the political persecution the people in region are going through at the hands of the UPND government should be a source of worry to the traditional leadership, Brian Mundubile has said.
Mr Mundubile, the Patriotic Front (PF) Mporokoso Member of Parliament says the law makers from Northern Province had made a collective decision to boycott this year’s Kusefya Pangw’ena because they are not happy with the continued harassment and persecution of people from the northern region that include Luapula and Muchinga provinces.
He said it was the first time that the MPs from the northern region had collectively boycotted the Kusefya Pangw’ena, largely because of the nature of the guest of honour, President Hakainde Hichilema, who they accused of having embarked on a crusade to politically harass, humiliate and victimise a selected class of citizens from the region.
“Even when President Hakainde Hichilema was going to Kasama, he knew that Dr Fred M’membe, who is a chief from Muchinga Province was supposed to be in Kasama for the Kusefya Pangw’ena but was in fact detained in police cells.
This is the hypocrisy as MPs from the north could not contain. It is not therefore surprising that reports are to the effect that the Kusefya Pangw’ena was a flop because of the nature of the guest of honour,” Mr Mundubile said.
But this should be a wake-up call to our traditional leadership. The Kusefya Pangw’ena is a symbol of unity and for the first time, we have had MPs from the region collectively deciding to boycott the ceremony so that it can remain dignified,” he said.
He explained that the MPs from the northern region had realised that they were ever either in police cells or in the courts of law because the UPND government did not want the lawmakers to be Parliament to represent their constituents.
Mr Mundubile said most of the MPs from the northern region had been arrested on trumped up charges and were either in court or serving unjustified jail sentences.
“What is happening to Nickson Chilangwa, the Kawambwe lawmaker and his counterpart Ronald Chitotela of Pambashe is nothing but persecution.
In Nakonde, the lodge for Luka Simumba was burnt down by known UPND cadres but the culprits are walking freely in the streets.
In Mporokoso, my properties were destroyed by the UPND who are known but they are still free and the arsonists are free. So, as MPs from the northern region, we thought we would be pretending to be celebrating the ceremony when our brothers were languishing in prison and police cells,” he said.
And Mr Mundubile said it was demeaning for President Hichilema to continue telling citizens and the traditional leadership that there was hunger in their chiefdoms because their subjects were lazy.
These are the same farmers who under President Hichilema are producing 1.5 million metric tonnes. When fairly supported, Zambians are able to produce more than enough food for the country,” he said.
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