CREATURES OF NO NATION: THE CASE OF CELESTINE MUKANDILA
By Patson Kasongo
Stranger than strange is to live among a people, to settle, to labor, to pay tax, to vote, to build schools and churches, and to make yourself believe you are one of them — only to be denied at the most unopportune time.
The case of Mr. Celestine Mukandila has shaken Zambia to its core and forced many citizens to ask a painful question: “Am I truly Zambian?”
If a man who served as Secretary General of Zambia’s largest opposition political alliance [TONSE] can have his nationality questioned, then who is safe?
1. BORN OF TWO NATIONS
In his own submission, Mr. Mukandila made it clear: his father is Congolese, and his mother is Zambian. That is the fact. That is the situation.
Mukandila is not an exception. He is one among millions. We live in an age of globalization. Borders are crossed daily for business, for education, for love. A Zambian mother marries a Kenyan man. A Zambian father marries a Tanzanian woman. A child is born in Lusaka to a South African father and a Zambian mother.
This is our reality.
To criminalize this reality is to criminalize the future of Zambia. To deny Mukandila on the basis of his father’s nationality is to tell every child of mixed heritage: “You are a guest in your own home.”
What message does that send to the diaspora?
What message does that send to investors, to spouses, to families?
2. CHOOSE TO BE ZAMBIAN AT OWNER’S RISK?
The law, in its wisdom, gives a child born of two nations the privilege to choose where to belong at the age of majority. It is called the right of choice. Mukandila chose Zambia.
Was he wrong to choose the land of his mother?
Was he wrong to pledge allegiance to the green, black, orange and red?
Is nationality now something that can be forced upon a man, or withdrawn at the convenience of those in power?
If government can deny the citizenship of a Secretary General today, it can deny the citizenship of a marketeer tomorrow. It can deny a teacher. It can deny you.
This is a dangerous precedent. The ramifications are far-reaching. We are creating legal orphans — people who belong to no nation, “Creatures of No Nation.”
A country that rejects its own children in the name of politics will one day find itself with no children willing to defend it.
3. FINISHING OPPONENTS
The true test of democracy is not how you treat your allies. It is how you treat your opponents.
Democracy is built on self-moderation. It is the ability to hand over power peacefully even when you have the entire defense and security apparatus at your disposal. It is the ability to debate, to disagree, and to still remain one people.
But when we see citizens dying, when we see nationalities being withdrawn, when we see opposing views suppressed, we are witnessing a dangerous shift. We are moving from politics of ideas to politics of elimination.
Using state instruments — immigration, police, courts — to “finish” your political enemy is not strength. It is fear. It is weakness dressed in authority.
A government that is confident in its record does not need to delete its opponents. It defeats them at the ballot.
4. THE BIGGER QUESTION: WHO ARE WE?
This case is no longer about Celestine Mukandila. This is about Zambia.
Are we a nation of inclusion or exclusion?
Are we a nation that celebrates diversity or one that fears it?
Are we building a Zambia where your surname, your tribe, or your father’s passport determines your worth?
5. WHAT IF MUKANDILA IS ALSO DENIED IN CONGO FOR CHOOSING ZAMBIA?
This is the most aching question. This is food for thought. Are we denying our brothers and sisters?
CONCLUSION: DO NOT CREATE GHOSTS
Zambia cannot afford to manufacture ghosts. Ghost citizens who work here, pay tax here, but have no country to call their own.
We must protect the Constitution. We must protect the right of choice. We must protect the dignity of every Zambian, by birth, by descent, or by registration.
Today it is Mukandila. Tomorrow it could be your son, your daughter, your neighbor.
Let us not, in our quest for political victory, lose our national soul.
Because a nation that creates “Creatures of No Nation” is a nation that is slowly committing suicide.