LET BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT REST IN PEACE

THE Lozi block vote for UPND is now the trump card for the Barotseland loyalists demanding the ruling party to enforce the 1964 Barotseland Agreement.

I was really dismayed by the insolent language used against President Hakainde Hichilema by the group of Barotseland zealots in video which is viral on social media.

They are daring the government to an open fight in the belief that if they are arrested, the Lozi vote will shift to the Socialist Party.

The UPND electoral strategists are fully aware of the huge stakes but have failed to find a way of managing their traditional power base.

It is very clear that the quiet diplomacy that the President had promised to use to resolve this long-standing issue has failed. The option on the table is now the use of the sword.

I am not calling for the heavy handedness approach of the Rupiah Bwezeni Banda administration in 2011.

We saw the carnage that eventually took place in Mongu, but it is just too risky to let the zealots have the field day with that audacity while the legitimate government is folding its arms.

Look at how Umozi Kumawa has been denounced, yet the association is only demanding more integration, but the Barotseland zealots who are advocating secession are treated with kid gloves.

These are hardened zealots and must not have a field day in the name of freedom of expression. They are endangering state security.

Those young zealots are a front by some selfish people seeking personal glory by using the outcry for Barotseland. Nationhood. The Barotseland Agreement is a “dead issue.” Many progressive Lozi people have moved on.

MIKE CHUNGU.