The KK betrayal—A poem from Makena
by Ilutwa Makena
Agreement, Agreement, a marriage of convenience Yes, the Barotseland Agreement 1964 A marriage made in bad faith Delivered a still-born baby, unitary state of Zambia The Barotse nation paid, dearly A price, of going to bed with a devil, Yes, we opened doors, wide open, To a preacher man’s son Hailing from we don’t where A Bible in his right hand, and a White handkerchief in his left Faithfully, our King appended his signature In deceit, the sly Kenneth Kaunda appended his and proclaimed “One Zambia, one nation” Yes, One nation that never was A guaranteed entrance to a jubilee of perpetual servitude A betrayal of our affirmation Not to have retained our separate statehood A unitary state was pronounced, but Which nations came together, Kenneth? You condemned us, Kenneth, Son of David Kaunda, the preacher man To wear a face of severe poverty and stress in perpetuity You rewarded us, Kenneth, for our faith With detentions without trial and daunting mental slavery Contemptuously, you parroted, the Holy Words in deceit “Do to others as you want them to do to you” Kenneth! What would you like the Barotse to do to you? “Love thy neighbor as you love thyself” You lied to Zambia The worst kind of cynicism, hypocrisy, contradictions and antagonisms Yet you felt no shame and no remorse, instead You netted and meted us in chains For seeking our birth right and unity in diversity Hoping against hope, In the name of unity We advocated for restoration of the Agreement the basis of unity You declined with rage and arrogance, thereby Throwing away the unitary state of Zambia by your own actions Tell me “Humanist” Kenneth Is that the way you love thyself? Barotseland never claimed an inch of North Eastern Rhodesia, factually So says history of mankind, Man East, man West, Man North, man South Where, then, does this stinking hatred emanate from? A failed attempt to grab what did not belong to you! O’ surrogate son of North Eastern Rhodesia You taught, inhuman teaching, based on humanism utopia Propagated the Tiyende Pamodzi falsehood, Yes Propagated one Zambia one nation falsehood, Yes Tried to build a nation on falsehoods Based on dogmatic phylosophies and evil “ism” that Being the preacher man’s son’s weapon of mental destruction. Out of your vanity, you condemned us to ignominy But we say to you, from dishonor we shall achieve dignity, Yes By your own actions, you set us free to actualize our separate statehood.