I am in a dilemma because you see, Mugabe is starving his people back in Zimbabwe because of several factors such as policies and political issues. I don’t know if his presence at the summit would suddenly change that.
But in the same midst of nothing, I am sure there is plenty of food to full Mugabe’s own stomach and those of immediate family, his minions and other allies where he lives.

The price of food in Zimbabwe is beyond the reach of many people, who are trekking to other countries in search of the survival. Although the cost of food is generally high world wide, Zimbabwe’s is on the extreme side.

Mugabe disturbed the agriculture system with his harp-hazard land distribution programme. All the farmers, black, white, coloured or Indian have no capacity to satisfy the food demand for the people of Zimbabwe.

I don’t know what Mugabe’s mission is at the food summit. I don’t know whether he is there to continue with his attacks and his backs at the USA, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. I am also not sure whether the man is there to pass time because it has been long since he last visited Europe owing to the travel restrictions slapped on him.

Maybe he is there to get connected with some sources of food supplies for starving Zimbabweans. But again, the Australians prime minister and his allies must be reminded about the sufferings Zimbabweans are going through. They have maintained a tight grip of sanctions on Zimbabwe, which are largely attributed to that country’s terrible economic terrain currently obtaining.

There is something better that they can do to help Zimbabwe. Condemning Mugabe alone will help the situation. Mugabe has proved to be adamant. I would like to say that even the Mr Smith’s comment about Mugabe at the food summit is obscene in itself. I think it lacks morality to some extent.

This week, the drama is back in Zambia again between the Catholic Church and ex-communicated Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo.

The issue at the centre of all this tug of war is celibacy, which Archbishop Milingo violated, hence his banishment from the church two years ago.

The former Archbishop of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia has bounced back home still insisting that ex-communication does not exist. His Korean wife Maria Sung accompanies him.

Archbishop Milingo is claims to be catholic and has continued to celebrate mass.

Archbishop Milingo has also continued with his spiritual healing sessions. He has links with the unification church founded by South Korean spiritual leader Sun Myung Moon.

In his sermons, the prelate urges for the end to celibacy because priests have continued to still sex from the people.

Archbishop Milingo says celibacy was nowhere in the Bible hence, the church should do away with it because very few priests adhere to the concept.

He openly calls for priests to start looking for marriage partners instead of maintaining their false grip on celibacy.

May be Milingo has a point, may be he doesn’t. Let the Catholic Church review he subject of celibacy. But I would like to say that such an exercise must be done cautiously because the interest and values of the church must be reserved.

There may be outside forces invading and bulldozing the Catholic Church to abolish celibacy.

It is public knowledge now that some priests are not celibate. We have knowledge about how some priests and bishops have been sexually molesting girls and boys in some parishes.

I think such reports should call for a review to celibacy but not it outright abolishment because we have to look at numbers. I believe that one man’s sin cannot condemn the whole world to hell.

Therefore, we need to discuss the calls for allowing priests to marry. We need prayers and consensus over the matter because it has befallen and staying aloof would not be the best action to take. The Catholic Church is under siege and that is the reality before God and mankind.

Yes, I agree with them.
Let the victims of xenophobia come to Zambia and we shall receive them with both hands. They are our brothers and sisters since the dawn of time. Remember the pre-independence era? We cannot afford to abandon them now, when they are faced with a temporal situation.

Zimbabweans shall forever remain a part of Zambia’s history. As they come, they can be assured of whatever we can manage to put together for them to accord them a decent stay here.

In fact, I am reliably informed that the Zambia Red Cross Society has stepped up a contingency plan where it is going to shelter, feed and treat the Zimbabwean economic refugees.

Zambia is obliged to receive the Zimbabweans because they will come with skills, need for economic development. They will come with new ideas needed in many areas of human endeavor such as trade, industry, agriculture and so on.

Some critics would say that the Zimbabweans coming to Zambia would hurt our economy, but lets look at the opportunities inherent in this people. They say when one door is closed for you, God opens another, and so lets follow this adage.

Those South Africans killing others because of job scarcity must work hard and acquire skills to enable them get employed.
Throwing stones and waving hammers will not help them get skills or an occupation.

Here in Zambia, we desperately need skilled labour and thank God, he has good and mysterious ways of rewarding his children. He has blessed Zambia with an abundance of labour from Zimbabwe and condemned in South Africa.

I was listening to one of the international radio stations when I heard about the abuse of women and girls by the soldiers and humanitarians.

British Save the Children authored the report that hundreds of children from Ivory Coast, Haiti and Southern Sudan experienced widespread abuse at the hands of soldiers and aid workers.

This is not the first time a report like this one is being churned out. I remember very well in 2004 when Save the Children produced a similar report showing similar details. This report made great recommendations.

The researchers by Save the children have not unearthed anything new. They have merely reminded us about the crimes our service personnel are committing out there.

It is such a monstrous abuse of authority and a gross violation of human rights. Therefore, I would like to ask what the difference is between the wrongs rebels and these soldiers are committing?

What I think is that the difference in terms of abuse is the same because peacekeepers and rebels in some African countries are committing similar offences.

The abused people feel betrayed and disappointed and I would like to suggest that the powers that be introduce better reporting mechanisms to curb the injustice.

The United Nations and Humanitarian organisations have made serious commitments but all in vain because that have not adhered to any of them.

I am particularly interested in the recommendation that erring soldiers should be punished by freezing their salaries and setting a fund to help victims.

There is also a need for a zero tolerance policy for the aid workers and peacekeepers because the wanton abuse of vulnerable people is escalating.

Peacekeeper and aid workers found wanting must be dismissed from service and prosecuted. How else can we reward individuals that have failed to live up to the expectations of human kind?

The sending countries need to commit well-trained and dedicated staff to serve in these needy areas.

It is Africa freedom day again on May 25. But I have a lot of questions on my conscious and sometimes I grow angry with all this.
Many years ago, “freedom is coming tomorrow” was among the popular songs on the Africa soil.

These songs have now died out because people say Africa is Free. But I think the songs should not die because Africa is still in bondage and the fight must continue.

And I ask this question that what is the point is being free when you can’t get a job, when you cant get food, no shelter and you are always running for your life. And I ask this question that what would you rather be, a well slave or a hungry free man.

I think Africa did not choose to be a well-fed slave but rather, we opted to be hungry free men when fighting for freedom.

As African commemorates freedom day, we must ask ourselves certain questions like celebrating freedom from what?

Look, Africa fought for its political independence for many years. What was our purpose of getting independent? Was it to plunge the continent into civil and cross border wars as it is now? Was it to achieve the highest levels of poverty currently obtaining in our countries? People, especially women and children are dying everyday from hunger, guns, disease and other atrocities.

Out freedom fighters had a dream when they shed their blood for Africa’s emancipation. They had a dream that one-day, Africa was going to be free from colonialism, hunger, slavery, disease, crime and other invectives. And I know this dream is a dream that many people who are alive now have. But look, this dream is as good as dead at the hands of politicians, full of avarice and too much power in their hands. In as far I am concerned, Africa is not a free continent. We need to free ourselves from neo-colonialism, we need to get rid of these super capitalists and imperialists that have scrambled for Africa’s own resources.

Last week, arch rivals Zambia’s President Levy Mwanawasa and opposition Patrotic Front leader Micheal Sata reconciled. It was a sudden and unbelievable turn of events. Some people called it a blockbuster. The two politicians were like light and darkness. But the opposition leader Micheal Sata took the first steps and apologized for contribution to the rivalry. The President reciprocated and now, there are clarion calls for reconciliation among politicians in Zambia.

However, this reconciliation would end up being an empty room if only Mwanawasa and Sata participate. Reconciliation is a process and mere statements are not good enough to bring two rivals together forever. In as far I am concerned, the move by our two leaders is commendable and Africa should take a leaf. All the armed conflicts in Africa can be resolved only if our leaders can sit down and talk about their differences in idea, perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and values. Debate is the critical factor in conflict resolution because opposing sides are able to come to a conclusion.

In the case of Mwanawasa and Sata, the reconciliation must trickle down to the grassroots who are the building blocks of political parties. Zambian politics should be above petty fights, insults and mudslinging. The young democracy should be nurtured and given an opportunity to grow. The fights between politicians has the potential to plunge the country into chaos, but when these people come out of their cocoons and put national before their selfish egos is a commendable gesture worth supporting.

Zambia is in a hurry to develop and the tug of war between politicians was attracting all the attention and resources away from improving Zambia’s welfare. Zambia has been an oasis of peace and the shadow fighting among politicians was dwindling that position.

I have read in the press and seen in motion and still images, the horrific xenophobic situation in South Africa. I saw someone set ablaze and another man being hacked as other assailants beat the poor fellow to the last ebb of his conscious. I saw women and children running for dear life with a middle-aged man wielding a huge hammer in chase.

South Africa’s envoy to Zambia Moses Chikane has condemned the killings saying they were being orchestrated by a disgruntled group of people.
I cannot just believe that the situation by our South African comrades could escalate and degenerate to such levels.

The South Africans who are killing foreigners accuse outsiders of taking away their jobs. At least 22 people have been brutally killed by irate mobs in areas such as Alexanderia.

The attacks on foreigners are an unfair action and deserve condemnation. I believe that South Africans should be last people to attack foreigners. They must be the first ones to embrace them on the contrary.

My thoughts take me to the pre-independence and apartheid era when gallant men and women of South Africa fought the oppressors. Neighbouring countries sheltered the exiled freedom fighters for many years. Have South Africans now forgotten how many years Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma spent in the Townships of Zambia, for example?

Zimbabwe, whose economic refugees South Africans are humiliating played a critical role in their independence. Some people sacrificed their lives for South Africa’s freedom.

Perpetrators of this violence must be fair with themselves and Africa at large. They owe Zimbabweans, Zambians, Namibians, Mozambique and many other places gratitude because without these people, freedom and democracy would absent to talk about in South Africa.

The assailants have a duty to reciprocate and host those foreigners now. They should blame the appropriate people for the unemployment factor. They must not vent their anger on unarmed, defenceless and innocent people. Driving away foreigners in such a brutal manner is not a magic bullet to give them jobs!

In any case, those killers should realize that God just created mankind. God did not create South Africans, Zambian, Zimbabwean or whatever. It is selfish mankind who created these tags and separated God’s own creation.
The violence in South Africa may undermine all the achievements this country has recorded.

But it is not fair for Chinamasa to accuse Zambia’s President Levy Mwanawasa that he is not doing anything about the western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe in his capacity as SADC chairperson.
According to Zambia’s government spokesperson Mike Mulongoti, it is hypocritical for Mr Chinamasa, who lost the previous elections, to criticize and insult the Zambian President.

Although Mr Mulongoti has never won an election before like Chinamasa, I would like to agree with him in the advise to Chinamasa that Zimbabwe must quickly resolve its problems by holding free and fair elections first before calling for Mwanawasa and Zimbabwe’s neighbours to act on the western sanctions.
It is premature to call for a condemnation to the western imposed sanctions before addressing the internal electoral impasse.
Let Zimbabwe hold free and fair elections first and the emergent winner should then talk about the sanctions. Chinamasa is full of emotions and crossing a bridge before he gets there.
During a recent interview with a South African Television station, Mr Chinamasa said the Dr Mwanawasa was doing nothing to resolve the Zimbabwe sanctions.

It is ridiculous for Mr Chinamasa to pour abuse and disrespect on Zambia’s president and later expect him to help Zimbabwe. Mr Chinamasa should be humble. In fact, Mr Chinamasa must be the last person to say anything on this matter because he has no authority. He lost an election and is not supposed to be in government. In what capacity is he attacking Zambia? Maybe as a citizen of Zimbabwe but he should have stated that initially.

Mr Chinamasa and his colleagues must show humility and act decently because being arrogant and aloof would not take Zimbabwe anywhere.
Dr Mwanawasa indicated that Zimbabwe is a sinking titanic and this is obvious. Chinamasa expect Zambia to support the apparent brutal assault on democracy, justice and human rights that is going on in Zimbabwe? Yes, Zambia as a neighbour may condemn the sanctions in Zimbabwe but Zimbabwe must act with decency and stop the abuse.
Mr Chinamasa must use the appropriate kind of diplomacy when commenting on such matters, instead of taking to public diplomacy, which may just worsen his situation.