By Thomas Ngala
NKANA member of Parliament Binwell Mpundu says Zambians must have the courage to discuss tribalism and hate speech.
On his Facebook page yesterday, Mpundu wondered why it should be a taboo to talk about tribalism and why should anyone who talked about the scourge be labeled tribal.
He wondered why citizens should be made to pretend that there was no tribalism as if was not affecting them.
“Why should some people be so jittery about the suggestion that we talk about this subject? Why should the so-called hate speech be applied to one group of people and not the other? Why should it be hate speech when it is Munir [Zulu] who makes a statement and not hate speech when Hon [Douglas] Siakalima makes the same provocative statement,” he wondered.
“Why should only one group of people be the ones that only complain and the police swiftly takes action and when others complain the police becomes dumb?” Mpundu wondered.
He cited some cases which he described as a litmus test.
“‘The people of Lumezi are more intelligent than the people of Bwengwa, says Munir Zulu’ and he’s in court for that. ‘The people of Luapula suffer from mental poverty, says Douglas Siakalima’ and he’s free despite being reported to the police,” Mpundu said.
“Tell me we are being fair to each other and tell me we don’t need to have a very honest conversation.”
Many opposition leaders and private citizens hailing from one region of the country have been arrested for speaking out against state-sponsored tribalism.
