By Namakando Nalikando-Sinyama
Is it just my computer that has been disabled or whose software upgrades have rendered it to have limited functionality? The thing is, i have not visited this site for quite a while now. But what i discoveredrecently about the new Barotseland.com home page/site is now so different as not to represent anything truly Barotseland in nature. What i mean is, now our National colours that is, (The Red, White and Black) no longer appear on the site. The Litunga’s Flag and The National Flag of Barotseland no longer appear on the site either. What the administrators of this site little realised is some of us were drawn to this site because of what these symbolisms embodied and signified. What i used to feel visiting this page was an overpowering sense of indefinable nostalgia and genuine yearning for My Nation of Barotseland.I will not waste time to go into the possible reasons why the administrators of the site out of their infinite wisdom opted for this rather sudden change in the outlook of this site. After all, they do not owe any of us a reason for any changes they wish to make to their site. After the Barotseland Agreement 1964 revolutionary spirit which has engulfed the length and breadth of Barotseland and which i hope shall never die for as long as our hearts still beat and blood still flows in our persecuted bodies. It can only be assumed that perhaps, out of fear and wanting to seem more politically correct and acceptable to the powers that be, they inevitably succumbed to invisible pressure and yielded by making drastic changes to their site.What this site once instilled in me was a real sense of True National Barotse pride as i saw images of home and symbols of my National identity. My heart was always warmed up as I would always sing that Barotse Spiritual of old," Bulozi Sapili' and augmented by that old Scottish spiritual Auld Lang Syne and I do the whole rendition of the chorus in the Gaelic language of the Highlands!!! My honest opinion of this new look site is that it now bares no difference from those sites or blogs strewn all over the World Wide Web advertising anything and everything from used cars to worn lingerie!!!It is certainly no longer evoking any Patriotic ideals at least not in me. I really used to enjoy your site once. POLITICAL THEME AVOIDANCE It has been a noticeable feature here to avoid employing a tone and shunning any subject that seems to touch on the real reason for Barotseland’s current under development. They insist that we discuss economic develop and make innovative suggestions on the development of Barotseland. This is the worst form of naivety I have ever encountered; we have to call a spade a spade not an overgrown spoon . The central government has ensured that we have been under a subtle form of economic blockade for years. Until these artificial and man-made stumbling blocks are confronted head on, we will be making two steps forward and three steps backwards as we address these challenges. The strategy Zambians are using in the political arena is repeatedly stating and reiterating that even other provinces are under developed,why should Barotseland be given special treatment? What seems to elude them like most basic topics do but which to us seem blatantly simple is that our interest is Barotseland. Without the honouring and the restoration of Barotseland Agreement 1964 Barotseland reverts to its previous prodigious status and reclaims its rightful place on the table of Sovereign nations of the proud and brave world. They send soldiers/police to maim and kill us in cold blood so as to force us to remain part of them, this i find rather curious indeed. If your wife of many years feels she cannot take the abuse no more and draws a line in the sand that this is where it all stops, one would have to be a complete block-headed imbecilic git to still want to hold onto her. It is expected that human nature ought to rise above any form of tyranny, to preserve any shred of dignity which as a man you probably never had to begin with, Let- Her-Go! Have you no shame at all? God, i feel sick all over as my innards churn with repugnant disgust at the goings on of these parts, but one day my brother, Uhuru a-go reign still. Selah! " For No regime, no matter how despotic, can press over the lid of a hot boiling pot forever." - Mzwakhe Mbuli, South Africa's greatest Radical Poet alive. (He performed during the inauguration ceremony of one Ntate Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.) After all is said and done i will really miss the now legendary impermeability to logical thought of the Northern Rhodesians! When there is no legally honoured Union Treaty binding the previously loosely united but very independent Nations of Barotseland and Northern Rhodesia then they revert to their previous status prior to 'independence'. Now try explaining this clearly basic concept to them, you will have a torrid time at the very least and a brain tumour at worst! This is no joking matter folks, believe me i have tried, and am now undergoing a combined regime of Chemo/Radio therapy to help clear my tumour and am sure glad to report that it’s vanishing slowly. What a relief indeed. We promise to be the best of neighbours though, so, cheer up folks no hard feelings. As for the statement that Zambia can not do without Malozi it is very debatable, we probably tried to need each other as the pre-requisite for intended unity which lamentably failed. Are we like the Jewish Lobby on whose intellect America feeds on to keep alive? Does this explain why their systematic exclusion of us from the political and economic limelight has caused them to be one of the economic giants of the regional and an iconic symbol of demon(cracy)?Ok uncalled for sarcasm will not help us here now will it? Is it the gold bullion locked up in vaults used as collateral when accessing international financing? We were made a province by aggressive coercion fuelled by the worst form of political skulduggery. We are by our own founding not and never shall be a simple province in a country called Zambia. We reason, in retrospect, how our great chain of being and fortunes would have been so different and a whole lot better had it not been for The Barotseland Agreement 1964 which made us part of Zambia. This is why it shocks some of us that the images we now see on this once inspiring site are those of an urban scene in Mongu town as if that is the true reality. Yes, this is meant to make people take a hypnotising pill and wake up in a dazed stupor, literally in a drugged state where you are deluded into thinking hey! Wait a minute, we are not so under developed after all, So what is the whole fuss about? The reality is what we need to be shown or should see is the real life my people are living by design. The truth is our forefathers wanted us to live better than this. This realisation just makes my innards shudder with repugnant disgust! The most honest depictions of the lives of the denizens of the length and breadth of Barotseland is that of extreme poverty and scenes of dejection, the gross unemployment, the evident infrastructure nonexistence, non- electrification of key potential industrial centre spots. There is soon going to be an electoral process where Zambians will be clamouring to choose the leaders at the polls. I wish them all the best and a peaceful exercise. The Zambian politicians have no scruples or sense of shame whatsoever to even canvas for votes from Barotseland’s poor people; do politicians have no shred of decency? What should be accepted and appreciated is that the above scenario cannot be accurately analysed by being totally oblivious to the underlying reason for the state of affairs. The daily tabloids keep citing the trigger of revolutionary outcry as The Barotse Agreement 1964. This is a dangerous misnomer which is meant to anaesthetise the malleable minds of Zambians. The issue is more correctly called The Barotse(LAND) Agreement because LAND(Terra firma) is really what the crux of the matter is about and what is on and what is under it and its future control . This is what the matter is about really for the Barotse people! If Barotseland has to look to the central government for any semblance of genuine well thought through lasting development, not one which involves hastily and haphazardly patching up surfaces of roads so as to hoodwink the gullible while in the polling booth,this can only happen in accordance with the dictates of the Clauses enriched in this Agreement. This is notwithstanding the fact that successive Zambian government administrations have sought to progressively weaken Barotseland through the passing of illegal instruments hell bent on destroying what is Barotseland proper and its traditional governance structures which have existed for millennia. The only thing they rather naively choose to ignore is, as any lawyer worth their wig would tell you, the parties to any legally binding agreement need to be consulted before any changes can be made to the spirit and letter of the original agreement. If this is not done, the changes are deemed null and void and the aggrieved party reserved the right to revert to their previous status or even quashing it. There should be no unilateral actions to be taken that alters the original agreement as was done. This is why this country will forever be haunted by this issue which will hang over its head like the proverbial sword of Damocles. The above is my critique of their new look site albeit unsolicited for. This is my submission BanaBaBulozi Naha yaruna Ma rozi, mi babe basiharesinde!!!. Namakando Nalikando-Sinyama Barotse Patriot Barotseland, Central Africa “I tell you a Truth, Liberty is the best of all things, my son, never live under a Slavish bond.” – Sir William Wallace’s Uncle
