LET’S LEAD THE WAY
…Leaders must spearhead healing process – Silumbe
By George Zulu
ZAMBIA needs healing and this process must start with us leaders, Leadership Movement (LM) president Dr Richard Silumbe has said.
In an interview with The Mast yesterday, Dr Silumbe said the country had lost its identity of One Zambia One Nation because of the issues surrounding the August 13 general elections outcome.
“We need to heal this nation and we must do it now, not any other day. And this healing must start with us leaders. Let us open our hearts to the current situation in the country. We need a genuine national indaba for reconciliation because if we don’t do it now, we are building a fertile land for a national crisis,” he said.
Dr Silumbe said Zambians were experiencing politics of hate and division, which should not be allowed in a Christian nation.
“We in the Leadership Movement are ready to push for a genuine and earnest reconciliation for the country to move forward. However, we cannot move forward if we are still bitter, if we are still a nation of vengeance, if we are vindictive, if we cannot forgive and forget,” he said.
Dr Silumbe said the only place healing and reconciliation could take place in the country was through the respect of the rule of law.
“We have seen our cadres the way they are conducting themselves, insulting and promoting hatred against one another, while us leaders are quiet about it. We need to call for order; we need to call out these cadres to stop, while we promote unity, national reconciliation, forgiveness and national healing. This is very important for this nation,” he said.
Dr Silumbe urged President Hakainde Hichilema to look beyond the August 13 general elections and face reality if he wanted the Grow Zambia Agenda to yield positive results and benefit the nation.
“We have seen Mr Hichilema working towards Grow Zambia, but this cannot be achieved if the nation is polarised. We cannot achieve the three million metric tonnes of copper production; we shall not achieve the 10 million metric tonnes of maize; we shall not grow the economy. We will achieve nothing in that Grow Zambia Agenda in the current state of the nation. My appeal is for Mr Hichilema to embrace dialogue and call for reconciliation towards national healing,” he said.
Dr Silumbe said the United Party for National Development (UPND) government had exposed itself to many battlefronts against its own citizens.
“We have a government that is not in good books with the Church. For me, this is dangerous. We have a government in power, yet people are still challenging its legitimacy. This is an eye-opener for reconciliation. Yes, we know that Mr Hichilema is President, but he should extend an olive branch to the grieving society for dialogue. Let him extend a hand to the Church and talk. Let him do that to civil society and political stakeholders,” he said.
Dr Silumbe said the healing was not about a few individuals but the entire nation.
Zambia is still reeling from the aftershocks of the highly disputed August 13 general elections, which the opposition still claims it won.
There is still high tension in the country over the murder of former minister Mutotwe Kafwaya by state agents and the indefinite detention of Hichilema’s closest rival Brian Mundubile, his running mate Makebi Zulu and 16 other members of the opposition on treason charges the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) as “concocted”.
