President Hakainde Hichilema has announced that his government will soon introduce stiff laws to punish tribalism, hate speech, or regionalism to foster national unity.
Addressing a press briefing at State House yesterday, President Hichilema strongly censured political stakeholders who have recently uttered hateful remarks against people of other tribes and regions of the country and called on Zambians to condemn any words spoken with the motive to disturb the country’s unity and peace.
“As your chief servant, I’m here to say that behavior and that language that proudly says I can hurt people, I’m violent, is disgusting, to say the least, and it must not be anywhere in our society. None of us should clap for that,” the president said. “If our forefathers behaved like that, we’d never have had independence.”
Consequently, Mr. Hichilema announced his cabinet’s resolve to introduce stiff laws and punishment for would-be offenders to deter citizens from spreading hate speech or any acts of tribalism.
“Cabinet met yesterday to arrest this issue and do it decisively; cabinet resolved to amend all laws which flow out of the constitution, amend all those laws that have to do with discrimination of this nature as we have experienced in an ugly way,” he said.
He added, “We want to bring about amendments that will stiffen penalties and make it unattractive for anyone to spill hatred against fellow citizens, I must actually say against humanity.”
The head of state referenced the tragic effects of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which came about as a result of tribalism to discourage those spreading hate speech in Zambia.
“Reflect on the Rwandan genocide, it started like this, and kids thought it was normal to say ‘find a Tutsi, kill them,’ ‘you’re Hutu, find a Tutsi, kill them,’ and the churches also got involved.”
“Go to Rwanda and look at the museum there. I’m happy to sponsor all those who met to spew hatred, which will lead to civil strife. I’m happy to sponsor them not from government resources but from my own farming resources, to send them to Rwanda for a study tour so that they can understand that there is no prize to achieve for such behavior,” he added.
President Hichilema further challenged parliament to support and ensure it enacts this law when it is tabled as a way of discouraging lawlessness and fostering unity in the country.
“When parliament opens, that law will be tabled, and it will be enacted, so we call on parliament to do what is right – which is to pass that law or those laws,” he said.
