FORMER PRESIDENT FREDRICK CHILUBA DIES

By: Qeko

Reports from Lusaka states that Zambias former President, Fredrick Chiluba has died at the age of 68. Chiluba was the founding father of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, the party which played a criticla role inthe fight for multiparty democracy in Zambia. he was also the champion of Democracy and a human rights campaigner for Zambia who ruled the christian nation from 1991 to 2001. After assuming power in 1991, Chiluba mananged to transform Zambia through the introduction of political and economic liberalisation which saw the improvement in the lives of Zambian.

In addition to the great economic change that Chiluba brought to the Zambian nation through his well accredited policies, there were times when lost direction as a President and a pro-democracy campaigner. Firstly is that Chiluba he had little respect for the founding father of the Zambia nation, Baba KK. Even though KK lost the election and handed over power to him, Chiluba continued to allegedly harrase Kaunda with jails and many forms of intimidation. In his mission to completely silence Kaunda, in 1996, Chiluba undemocratically barred the founding father of the Zambia nation from contesting the presidential elections alleging that he was of a Malawian descent.

The continued arrest of Kaunda by the Chiluba regime came to the climax in 1998 when Chiluba kept the Father of the Zambian nation in prison in Kabwe. It took Julius Nyerere, Robert Mugabe and other key african heads of states to plead with Chiluba to release Kaunda. This kind of behaviour not to respect the founding father of the nation was the very begining of the political downfall of Chiluba as he later became more autocratic and even tried to bid for a third term which failed and ended up annoning Mwanawasa at the MMD torch bearer for the 2001 Presidential elections. After Mwanawasa took over, Chiluba's expectations were never realised because the very same man he annointed turned back and commenced prosecution against his corruption behaviour and the money he allegedly store from the Zambian people.

Now that Chiluba his passed on, the question is what kind of legacy has he left for the Zambian people and Africa as a whole? Also what type of lessons can we learn from the way he ruled the Zambian people? Also what kind of lesson can all the upcoming politicians in Zambia and Africa learn from this great Zambian statesman?

LIBYA: THE 21st CENTURY BILLION DOLLAR WAR AND BUSINESS

By: Qeko

The news the key western super power nations are in the United Arab Emeretes capital to discuss the post Gaddafi Libya is interesting and a kind of repeating history itself. This is because the discussion about the post Gaddafi Libya seem not to be inclussive and does not represent the overall Libyan people but those who support the rebels and have left out those from Tripoli. I realise that the war in libya has gone tribal and in this regard, I wonder if all key tribes are represented in the UAE meeting.

Now this type of meetings reminds some of us of what happened of the 1884-85 Berlin Conference where western super power nations had a meeting to discuss and divide African amongst themselves. Just as the west are discussing the Post Gaddafi Libya, their forefathers did the same when they were sharing Africa amongst themselves. Now this is repeating the wicked history of the Berlin conference which has been the main cause of conflict in Africa today. What is happening in Africa today is as a results of what happened in Berlin during that conference where European powers shared Africa amongst themselves. Now to hear again that Western Nations have gathered in United Arab Emirates to discuss the Future of Libya even as the civil war is on is pathetic and and worrisome. What is unacceptable is for the West to again sit on the conference table and plan the future of Libya. The future Post Gaddafi Libya can not be discussed in UAE and it should have nothing to do with the Western nation. The Destiny of Libya has to be in the hands of the Libyan People and not to be dictated by the Western nations.

WHY NATO IS BOMBING LIBYA TODAY?

There are many arguments that people have put forward as to why NATO led by Britain, France and Italy are daily bombing Tripoli. The one common argument raised by many is that western nation are scrumbling for OIL in Libya and in this case, the post Gaddafi Libya will show how far this shall go. The west through NATO and the United Nations are all doing every thing they can to dismantle libya and the whole reason is OIL. Libya is a rich country with rich natural resources and is one of the leading oil producing country in Africa and in the World. Now just as the USA did in Iraq, this time around Britain, France and Italy will likewise make sure that they completely dismantle Tripoli so that they come back to reconstruct it. So western nation are hiding behind all the factors the rebels have raised agaisnt Gaddafi while in actual sense the main reason is OIL. So it is unfortunate that as NATO continues to bomb libya, innocent lives are lost in Tripoli and nobody seem to see this. It seems that those living in Tripoli do not have the right to exist and even if they are bombed its OK while when the eastern side is bombed then alarms are raised. This is how unfair the world systems can be as they wrongly define people. The definition of the "People" is basically limited to those in Bengazi such that when anything happens to them the alarms are raised.

THE BUSINESS WAR

The one thing that people need to understand is that in the 21st century, war has become a booming business and that is why in as much as lives are lost, some tend to benefit during the war. Havent you wondered that if a nation is rich in varous minerals and other natural resources such a nation tend to attract many to join in the war? Havent you seen that big nations dont mind to intervene in conflicts where nations are poor and with no rich minerals and oil? At the same time you will see that in a nation like libya, every rich nation would like to get involved in the dismantling of Libya so that they get opportunity for tenders in the reconstruction process? So what is happening in libya is all business and the whole issue is OIL AND OTHER MINERAL RESOURCES THAT LIBYA HAS. If libya was a poor nation with no OIl and no other Mineral resources no western powerful nation even the USA could have wasted their time and money to intervene. But they are busy using everything under their power to dismantle libya even more because they want to make sure that they come back to reconstruct and have a share in the OIL. So the Libyan war is vital at the moment and that is why the west will do everything to make sure that Gaddafi is gone so that they commence reconstrution. Now in the reconstruction process, Britain, France and Italy will play a leading role and their campanies are the ones which shall get into Libya to re-fix the dismantled nation. So the one thing that many Libyans seem not to see is that this is not about Gaddafi but the OIL. The USA has played a low profile in Libya because they had had enough of such activities in Iraq when they controlled the reconstruction process and this time around they have left it to the British and the French to have their share. So that is the reason why you will not see the USA taking a key role in Libya because they are still enjoying the Iraq Oil and the rest of the reconstruction deals there.

WILL LIBYA BE THE SAME AGAIN?

When i see the various news channels the bombing that is taking place in Libya, one cant help it but ask this, " Will Libya be the same again? Will the Libyans and all Arabs manage to accommodate the demands of democracy? With what is happening in Tripoli, Libya will not be the same and this civil war where the westen nation are assiting one section of the country to fight has created this hatred between the two sections of the Libyan people. Those from the eastern side and Tripoli will never be one people anymore because we need to understand that Libya is tribal based African nation where in this case, Gaddaffi has his own people whose duty is to make sure that they die with him fighting. So this whole war in Libya is against all those tribes which supports Gaddafi and because of this, these sections of the country will never be united again. This war has separated these two key people in the history of Libya.Having said this, westen nation should know that naturally African people feel more patriotic to their tribes and are able to do anything to protect the existence of their tribes. So in the case of Libya, whatever thing that happens to Gaddafi becomes the entire Tribes business and no wonder they will alwayz be people who are ready to take up arms and fight not for him as such but its the fight of protecting their every existence, their tribe.

REGIME CHANGE BY THE GUN NOT THE VOTE

Against all odds, there is a concept and wicked ideology called, "regime change" propagated by the west particularily the USA. George Bush seem to be the pioneer of this regime change concept where the western nation could decide the destiny of a nation so long they are in bad books with a particular leader. What surprises many is that the regime change called by the west who claim to be the champion of democracy is by the gun and not the ballot paper. The Western nations seem to support the use of the gun to get rid of leaders who have been in power instead of using the power of the vote.As of libya, the most suprising thing is that the three key western nations, Britain, France and Italy are not calling for the libyans to exercise their demoncratic rights to vote but to use the gun to remove Gaddafi. Now we need to understand that if they use the gun to remove Gaddafi today, this trend will continue and next time it will be somebody else to be removed by the gun. The thing is " You got in by the gun, the same gun will be used against you". So what the western nations are doing to encourage the use of a gun for regime change in African is worrisome and unacceptable because this is a way of making Africa more ungovernable and it has to come to a stop.