Africa-Press – Zambia. Unlike most of you, I grew up deep in the village and the natural world taught me life lessons. So when I heard some UPND cadres support the demolition of over 500 houses in Kasompe, Chingola, I made sense of the adage, lunshi pamafi tasela (house flies always gather around feces).
Don’t get me wrong. Zambia has been heaven on earth since President HH took power. Is the Kwacha not 16 to a US dollar? Only fools believe that the economy is biting. Even then, one wonders if we are living in the same country. That’s not my fault. We are all entitled to our own pockets. If you can’t afford what I could, bad for you. As for now, shout aloud and I will shout back–HH is making Zambia heaven on earth!
Back to over 500 demolished houses in Kasompe. Who doesn’t know Chingola was once the cleanest town in Zambia? Yes! We were proud of it until PF thugs came along. They ruined it. But maybe I am too harsh to blame it on Lungu. It began with the shortest man to rule Zambia. I am short too and I don’t mean short people are short mannered. But FTJ was just that–he destroyed Chingola and gave houses away like toilet paper. It is he who caused the housing crisis in the once peaceful and cleanest jewel of Zambia. Retirees didn’t pay their land dues and we watched helplessly as street after street crumbled and bins disappeared before our eyes. House flies and rats took over the streets, and then piles of trash started sharing our streets with us. It wasn’t long before pot holes became dams and all our pride disappeared. To read those words, “Welcome to Chingola, the Cleanest Town In Zambia,” after Kasompe turn-off, made us put our tails between our legs!
But we didn’t stop marrying and giving birth. The spirit of Chingola went on. The Brave Rangers we supported, but we never won anything. As the population grew, we needed more land, nonetheless where could we get it? Across the mining areas new structures were born–of course they were illegal. But they were better than nothing. People started building wherever they could find space. Health hazards these atrocious structures became, but who cared as long as one had a place to call home. It was the MMD to blame I guess–Chiluba to be specific. So when President HH praised his legacy, I wondered if he knew the damage he caused to Chingola.
To mining kids, Kasompe was like a ghetto. But not until Chiluba changed things–mining bosses who retired didn’t leave Kabundi or the famous numbered Streets of Nchanga South–they were proudly married to Nchanga South Hospital and their Golf course. So new ones had to start investing outside the city–something that led to new areas being established. Kasompe became marketable and illegal land deals took off. Unsuspecting citizens were sold plots that they developed–only to discover they were not legitimate. The Great Bally fix it–erased over 500 houses down!
Simple questions. Did President HH ask the value of the airstrip and ask the owners of those houses to negotiate with the original owner to buy back the land? Did the President ask the city to consider alternative land for the airstrip which owners of those houses would have purchased? Did the President consider compensating the original owner using the CDF as opposed to causing unnecessary pain on citizens? There is no doubt the decision was legally justified; but it was not ethical. In short, there’s a difference between what is legal and what is ethical. A leader must carry his people in his heart as opposed to abandon them when they need him most. President HH can claim whatever he wants, but he betrayed the people of Kasompe! This is highly disturbing and despicable.
I know his files are brainwashed to justify whatever he does without question. This is because balunshi (flies) gather around the feces left behind by someone–they don’t follow the one who dumped them there. So it is in politics. When politicians make fecal decisions like this one, cadres defend such inhumane policies with senseless slogans. And as soon as the old feces dry up, and the fresh ones come, flies jump ship–it is the circle of Zambian politics. Balunshi bamuMMD became balunshi bamuPF. As we speak, balunshi bamuPF are joining UPND. Ala lunshi pamafi tasela!
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