PeP STATEMENT ON THE ARREST AND HARASSMENT OF CHIEF CHIKWA OF CHAMA DISTRICT OF EASTERN PROVINCE
Liberty House, Lusaka
- The Chikwa chiefdom lies almost entirely in the Chikwa Game Management Area (GMA) in Chama District of Eastern Province, so it is unreasonable for Government to arrest Chief Chikwa for allegedly cutting down trees in the GMA because the chiefdom is entirely in a GMA, meaning that whenever they need logs for constructing a new house, they have to cut within the GMA.
- The action by Government to arrest Chief Chikwa through the so-called Joint Operations Team is draconian and an abuse of the basic human rights of the Chief and his subjects.
- If Government does not want a single tree to be cut in the GMA, then they should not allow people to live in GMAs across the country. For as long as people live there, they need to cut trees for various domestic purposes including clearing land for cultivation.
- As Patriots for Economic Progress, we demand for the immediate withdrawal of the draconian charges made on Chief Chikwa by the Zambia Police Service in Chama.
ISSUED BY:
SEAN E. TEMBO (SET)
PARTY PRESIDENT
PATRIOTS FOR ECONOMIC PROGRESS (PeP)
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA
Again, Mr Tembo showing us how shallow his thinking is.
The first two articles about the Mopani sale show exactly the reason why the Chief has been arrested. Abuse of Office. No one is above the law. This is what has led individuals to question the sale. And they cite the law to do so and have threatened to sue as the lawyer suggested in yesterday’s article.
The Chief didnt follow due process in accessing what was under his juristiction but subject to the GMA, which run by a board to which he should be a Patron (as the act suggests).
This is a classic case similar to the ACC case against the copperbelt chief found with US$ 5,000,000 in his personal account.
These offices are ones of public trust. The Chiefs hold land and resources in Trust of the people they rule over (Stewarship 101). If not, then the law is warped and this is why we have abuse. Instead of debating these issues we are arguing in Parliament about the outbursts of an MP who just lacks decor and wants to turn the house into a zoo.
Secondly, Game Management areas were created as a vehicle to regulate and channel resources in traditional land for the benefit of the community as well as protect the natural resources in the area.
Did Chief Chikwa so this? If no then like any member of the comnunity that doesnt follow the law, he broke the law. Beside the Chief doesnt have the final say on the resources in his area under the GMA act. There is an established body that works with him as Chief, the Community and the state to administer the GMA and the Chief or his representitive made be Patron. So please ba Sean Tembo, stop embarassing yourself with eloquent language.
You dont understand the law. You want to come to the aid of a chief who tried to further his personal self interest above the interest of the community and the vehicle that protects his subjects interests that he presides over. That is no different from the assertions made about Edgar Lungu and his Presidency. Know your goverance bwana stop lying and misleading people with lies.