DONT USE BAROTEE TO CANVASS FOR 2016 VOTES, AKA TELLS HH AKASHAMBATWA Mbikusita-Lewanika says UPND president Hakainde Hichilema should not use the Barotseland issue to canvass for votes ahead of the 2016 general elections. Mbikusita-Lewanika said in Lusaka yesterday that such promises were a forked hook for fishing Barotse votes. He said it had become a trend by politicians seeking the highest office in the land to use the Barotseland agreement as a bait to win votes on the pretext that it would be recognised. Mr Hakainde Hichilema and UPND have my good wishes in the Zambian election campaign. But lets restate the issues, points I raised, whose message is simply that the Barotseland issue is too serious to continue being used as a Zambian election doormat, Mbikusita-Lewanika said in reference to a posting on Facebook by the Barotse Times that Hichilema had promised to find a solution to the Barotseland fiasco if he was elected republican president in the 2016 general elections. Hichilema recently visited Western Province, where he made the promises. But Mbikusita-Lewanika said there was nothing wrong with the opposition leader seeking a solution to the Barotseland impasse but that he should not use it to solicit votes. I pray that we shall not continue to entertain campaigners for personal or partisan political offices to playing and cheating over Barotseland. Aka or no Aka, someone has responded that Barotseland should not be used as a doormat for entry into Zambias State House. This is my prayer, I do not purport to command how or whether it is answered. This is up to Barotse people, authorities and organisations, who have their own representatives, and among whom I do not count myself, Mbikusita-Lewanika said. I agree that we need to find a solution to the Barotseland issue, just as I agree with anyone stating that a lasting solution should be found for the people of Palestine or for people living with cancer. My concern is with the reported statement that this lasting solution is for when UPND forms government in 2016. On my part, the statement is alright if it is honestly not tied to anyone being voted to form government or winning election, and not a forked hook for fishing Barotse votes. Mbikusita-Lewanika said politicians were in the habit of using the Barotseland impasse to win votes but immediately they got into power, they shelved the idea of recognising the agreement. He said during the run-up to Dr Kenneth Kaunda taking over as Zambias Prime Minister-cum-President and UNIP forming government, they signed the Barotseland Agreement of 1964, only to abrogate and condemn it. Aka or no Aka, this is a statement of fact, and proof of it is available and it is condemnable. Therefore, I still stand by it. During the 1991 presidential and parliamentary election campaign, President Kaunda promised (in a formal letter to the Litunga Yeta IV) to solve the Barotseland issue and even pay for Barotse government lawyers, but only to continue criminalising even the speaking of the agreement. Aka or no Aka, this is a statement of fact, and proof of it is available and it is condemnable! Therefore, I stand by it, Mbikusita-Lewanika said. He noted that even in 2011, President Michael Sata as an opposition leader promised at a public rally and in the media to restore the Barotseland agreement, only to contemptuously renegade. Aka or no Aka, this is a statement of fact, and proof of it is available and it is condemnable! Therefore, I still stand by it, Mbikusita-Lewanika said. Now, during the already set electioneering and in the midst of chaos caused by taxi drivers offered free fuel by a campaigning presidential candidate Hichilema and his political party, it is reported that there is campaign promise to solve the Barotseland issue.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 12:03:25 +0000
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