Thu, 11 Oct 2012 09:04:23 +0000
THE Nkoya Royal Foundation (NRF) will not engage into any Barotseland discussions with the Lozi speaking people of Mongu because of insincerity among the Lozis, says the Nkoya Royal Council.
Royal Council Foundation Secretary Shimunita Shamatunga said that the Nkoyas would no longer entertain any further discussions about the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 because they were not part of the agreement.
Mr. Shamatunga said that the royal council was extremely disappointed by some media reports that suggest that Nkoyas were in total support of the discussion between the two tribes in the region.
“The royal council of the Nkoya speaking people of Western Province in Kaoma district meet and resolved not to entertain and Barotse Agreement of 1964 because we are not part of the agreement and we were not consulted. We wish also to inform the nation that we shall not allow any political player to use us as tools in the matter. We have an agenda and our agenda is development,” said Mr. Shamatunga.
He said that in the recent past the Lozi leadership in Mongu had made several attempts to have round table discussions over the 1964 agreement but we have also realized that the discussions lacked transparency, commitment and sincerity in the manner the Lozis were bulldozing the matter.
Mr. Shamatunga said that the main agenda of the Nkoya speaking people of Kaoma was to ensure that development was taken to the area without segregation.
He said there was no need for the people in the area to be forced to support the Barotse issue when poverty levels where still high, adding that there major interest was to seek for dialogue with government on how the area could benefit from sustainable development.
“Our position not to entertain any discussion with the Lozis is as a result of social injustices inflicted on us by the Lozis. Today we wonder why these people are desperately seeking to use us to get what they want. We know that they have done that before where after supporting them and gets key positions in government have turned against us. So we want to tell the nation that whatever going on in the region we are not part to that. We shall not accept or allow to be used. Our agenda is to seek development,” he said.
Mr. Shamatunga said the preoccupation for the people of Kaoma was to demand for infrastructure development such as roads, schools, hospitals and any other social amenities like those in other districts.
He said the Nkoya leadership was also demanding from government to create another 11th province in order for decentralization and service delivery because the current provincial leadership of Mongu had failed the people of Kaoma.
