By Dr. Nevers Mumba, President, MMD 

PREMISE:

I would like to anchor my message on the Scripture. “All things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28)

Zambia by declaration, loves God and has been CALLED according to God’s purpose.” The politics of Zambia has degenerated into a destructive movement of violence, corruption and an area totally taken over by powers of the underworld.

The words, “All things..” refer to events that happen everyday. Both good and bad. Seer 1’s words constitute part of “things” which finally will work out for the good of our country. My assignment is to put the nation at rest and assure the nation that these current events are a prelude to Zambia’s emancipation from the grip of evil powers which have in the past paralyzed our efforts to prosper as a nation. God is changing the ground rules for the 2021 elections. Witchcraft will no longer be used as a means to take power. God is exposing it now because he has heard the prayers of God’s people. God is healing the land. “If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray…….. I shall heal their land.” (2 Chron 7:14)

On 18th October 2019, I was honored to have been asked to lead the nation in a prayer to rededicate our country back to God. I led the nation in acknowledging our sins and repented for departing from the vows we made when we declared Zambia as a Christian nation in 1991. I further asked the Lord to expose the evil forces which have held Zambia captive over the years. Today, I believe the Lord has started to answer our prayers.

Seer1 is therefore not the issue. God can use any one and anything including Baalam’s donkey to fulfill his will. To target our anger at Seer 1 is a lack of understanding. God is answering our prayers to clean up our land. The ritual killings must stop. The shedding of innocent blood for political purposes must end. God is at work and I am here to restate that Zambia shall be saved. The issue as to whether Seer 1 is a false prophet or not is for God to handle. In the book of Acts, Gamaliel said, … let us not pre occupy ourselves with figuring out whether these men are of God or not….” (Acts 5:39) What is born of God shall stand and what is not of God shall fall. What is important is the issue at hand, the redemption of our land.

PURPOSE

The Lord has finally set the ground for the Salvation and redemption of our land. The events that have filled public debate the past two weeks are a positive development in the life of our country. The redemption process has began. The purpose of this debate is to cleanse Zambia. A new Zambia is being birthed.

BLOOD

Over the past number of years, innocent blood has been shed as a means to gain political power. The land has been defiled by the spilling of innocent blood. As a result, the avenging spirits (furies) have been raised in the land seeking revenge. The blood cries from the ground for justice. Human sacrifices have been with us through out history. People seeking for power or victory in war have offered sacrifices to various gods. Spilt human blood is never silenced until it is appeased.

In Genesis, we read that the blood of Abel continues to cry out for justice. Spilt blood is a game changer. God the father himself in order to reconcile the world to himself had to sacrifice his own begotten son. His blood confirms the transaction for my salvation. The Bible says, “… without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin.”(Heb 9:22)

POWER

Power is obtained and sustained by the Spirit world. To non believing politicians they seek this power from sorcerers, seers, soothsayers and medians. These in turn demand for blood in order to seal the transactions for power. An exchange of blood for power.

SEERS

Seers are a real phenomenal. Some seers are of God and others are not. A Seer is a person who tells people of their future. The Bible talks of many seers. Prophets are also called seers. Samuel was called a Seer. The witch at Endo is also called a Seer because he predicts the death of King Saul. Although he was a witch, his word was fulfilled because God has not yet dispossessed the devil of his power. He has allowed evil to exist along side of good. Darkness and light both exist. So is Seer 1 a legitimate prophet? Unfortunately, this is not the question we must concern ourselves with but rather what is God doing in Zambia? He has started to cleanse the land. Whether Seer 1 is illegitimate or legitimate is not for us, but the purpose of his rising at this particular moment. To expose the workings of the underworld in the politics of this Christian Nation. (God wants to align our confession with the actual reality. Zambia must become truly a Christian nation whose governance is not driven by demonic forces)

To confirm the power of the BLOOD and that of a witch or a SEER from the under world, I wish to cite two scriptural references:

In the book of 2 Kings, when the King of Molech, a heathen King went to war against IsraeI, he began to lose, but after he sacrificed his first born son on the wall, the battle turned against Israel. The blood of his first born son reversed the fortunes of war. This is the power of the blood even if it’s not administered by a believer.

In the book of 1 Samuel, when King Saul was afraid of losing power, he sought for a word from a witch at Endor. A witch was able to bring back Samuel from the dead, who prophesied that Saul was going to lose power and shall die. This happened as prophesied. The difficult question is, how can a real prophet Samuel be brought back to life by a witch? In my view, the issue was not about the witch but the termination of Saul’s leadership and the coming in of David as King. A regime change.

THE CHURCH:

My appeal to church leaders and the church is to keep our focus on what God is intending to do and not on the circumstances that are prevailing. This singular event should be a message of rebuke to the Church. Our role should always be to speak on behalf of God and the poor. When you do this, you shall be persecuted by the powers that be and honored by the under-trodden. Could it be that Seer 1 has touched a national nerve that the Church should have been bold enough to touch?

THE QUESTION:

The real question we all must answer honestly is: Why has the nation so overwhelmingly responded to Seer1 ?

The answer to this question is the counsel I offer to my nation.

I believe Zambians have questions which both the PF and to a larger extent the Church are not answering.

The self proclaimed Seer revealed that some leaders in PF government are his clients. He is however now upset that the power he gave to them is being used against the people and he wants his fetishes back. This is what brought the explosion of excitement in the nation.

Zambians are angry at the prospect of being governed by powers of darkness and are waiting to confirm if there is any truth in this.

To PF: Restrain yourselves from attacking the so called Seer. You are the government. If truly there are some PF ministers implicated, let them deal with it at a personal level. Unless the Seer was contracted by the PF party as a whole. The Seer is inconsequential at this stage. It is his allegations that must be dealt with. Unfortunately, any covenant entered into with a spiritualist has consequences. The people involved must clear themselves.

To ZAMBIANS: God has allowed this in order to clean and change our politics forever. When God starts to answer prayers of God’s people we don’t choose for him who he uses to bring the answer. He uses donkeys, witches, prophets and ordinary people. The Lord wants to expose those who use blood and human sacrifice to attain political power. Those politicians who are not affected by this have nothing to worry about. Their prayer should be, Lord let your will be done.

CONCLUSION:

My position does not in any way authenticate the young man called Seer 1. Having served God for 44 years has taught me that the Lord can use anyone and anything to do his WILL. His will is for Zambian politics to be cleaned and clear of demonic influence. This confirms my life long dream of Zambia Shall be Saved. I hope Zambians see this. It is not politics but the redemption of a nation.

Often we hear of the politicians, the privileged being flown to South Africa or India for treatment for review and for all sorts of treatment. Where do our old and vulnerable people go? Are the people flown out more human than those left behind? Does it always work when we are flown to South Africa? Most come back in a casket at colossal sums of Tax Payers money.

What greed! For how long are we going to continue with this barbaric uncaring behaviour? We need services close to ourselves and not taking chances with life.To illustrate this I have thought of looking at the plight of the elderly as they are the most vulnerable.

Old age is scary; brings along a lot of physiological and psychological changes to ones life. When I was young people told me things that would happen to me at puberty,I heard about mid-life crisis but had to get to mid-life to know what it is.

We do not have to get old to understand what old age is because most of us may never grow old but may be tasked to look after the elderly. You could be classified as elderly from 65 on wards though for some could be much early.

What happens in old age?

I will be as elementary as possible and I will avoid medical jargon and terminologies. From the head as one grows older the hair greys, suffice to say that even young people may have grey hair as a result of Genetic predisposition, but this is common amongst elderly people.

It is not un common to experience loss of Hair in old age,the hair cells reduce in number. Not un common in the elderly to have problems like dandruff and rashes. For this the elderly need special anti fungal creams and shampoos to treat and maintain the Hair lustre.

The Brain shrinks in old age and as the brain shrinks thought processing wanes. We lose brain cells as we grow older the brain density becomes lower. We are not as quicker and sharper as we used to be when we grow older. Our memory wanes. We begin to have memory lapses, forgetfulness.

Ever wonder in the village an elderly person forgets the route to his village and found him or herself in another village,people anonymously agreed that the Old person was a witch, why was he or she found in the wrong place wondering.

This commonly happens at night when the elderly go out of the house to relieve themselves they wonder off their hamlet into the other people’s homes and villages and are suspected of being witches; she was flying and dropped off in another village.

A lot of elderly people have lost their lives by lynching mobs because of this mystery of old age when just a little sensitisation for the community is all that is needed. If near a road side, they have ended up being struck by a Car and killed. We have read these stories in the papers and nobody has disputed them.Thus the power of ignorance.

Suffice to say that the western world are more inclined to a young leader due to some of these reasons highlighted. Thought processing. Do not deny the argument of experienced and tested leadership.

Mental Disease and Alzheimer’s may set in due to old age and this may cause confusional states. From shouting, memory loss, aggressive behaviour, self harm wondering, hallucinating, paranoid behaviour etc. This is largely a topic on its own and needing an article on its own.

The elderly may Lose sight as they grow older.Cataracts formation that need to be operated upon.Refraction and needing lenses to see. Other degenerative conditions of the elderly may be present needing very specialised care. This always takes me to my days at Kitwe eye clinic with Dr Jonathan Munkombwe the ophthalmologist. We did a number of cataracts extractions.Its a great service for the elderly. A bulk of opticians and ophthalmologists work with the elderly to keep them seeing.

Impaired hearing is common among the elderly.The elderly oftenly have got to be tested for hearing and hearing aids are prescribed for them. Loss of hearing can be the most frustrating thing in old age.

We all want to hear clearly and perceive things. Specialised Audiology department and Hearing aid department is so essential for the elderly.I have had my elderly parents who have had problems with hearing and needed audiological examination had to travel to access it. Lusaka or Kitwe,these facilities need to be accessible wherever they are old people.Most end up frustrated and chose to live with it.

What happens to your mouth when you grow older? You may lose all your natural teeth. A Dentist is not only for feeling cavities.They provide a huge service for the elderly in fashioning dentures for them. Dentures will definitely help the elderly person to bite and chew food.These facilities have got to be accessible to the elderly people. If they cannot chew food they will have a phobia for food:choking etc.they lose weight they get malnourished.

This takes us to the next problem in the elderly -swallowing.As we grow older swallowing may pose a problem.The muscles of the throat that propel food downwards may slacken. Specialised assessments may need to be undertaken for swallowing to prevent choking and to encourage eating. This is a very important unit of care for the elderly. Some end up on blended diets,puréed diets or soft diets depending on risk assessments.We need these services were ever our old people are in Zambia.

Dieticians play a very important role in the care of the elderly as they also prescribe diets for the elderly. The elderly are prone to lose weight for various reasons and some already explained. Their senses are oftenly in reversal, may lose sense of smell,taste etc. It is an important role that the dietician plays to prevent malnutrition in the elderly.

They may recommend food supplements,artificial feeding etc remember in the elderly they suffer shrinking of organs as well and one of them is the stomach may not hold the same volume of food.It is not un common to get stomach cancer in the elderly.Gastric irritability is common anti acid medication need to be availed to the elderly.

The skin being one of the largest part of the body in old age suffers lack of elasticity and shrinks.Wrinkles as well.In some various dermatological conditions become a problem needing prescribed maintenance medications and creams.Specialist Dermatologists need to be available.Because the skin is so fragile and weak it breaks easily and if laid in bed for a long time or sat in chairs forms sores due to pressure.

Specialised mattresses, beds,wheelchairs.cushions and forms are prescribed for this.Equipment therefore forms another bulk of the care for the elderly,whether in a Hospital or at home.

They may have difficulties to walk due to age or stroke,may need physiotherapist to attend to them use aids like Zimmer frames,wheelchairs.They may need hoists and other mobility Equipments to mobilise them.This is the reality about ageing.

Skeletal problems arthritis, aches and pains become the norm in old age needing constant medication pain killers etc.

In old age your bowel motion may not be as regular as a young person this could be due to immobility,being in a wheelchair or in a chair for sustained periods.It is so common that the elderly need laxatives and apperients to help them to open bowels.They need to take them regularly or they become constipated and fear to eat lose weight subsequently.Constipation can cause other surgical complications.

Healthcare

I was having a chat with one of my Zambian GP friends in the United Kingdom about Physiological changes that happen to the aged and how they are managed in the developed world and we were looking at the delivery gap in the third world in general. May be it is truly time to set up partnerships and meet these Gaps, government good will is required.

In saying this I echo the words of wisdom from those requesting the Diaspora to help create jobs back home. May be such partnerships are key. Deliberate policy is required. I am saying this to pre empty your condemnation of me being an arm chair critic from the confines of Europe, I love Zambia, my blood flows Zambian and will ever be, that is why I plead the best for every Zambian.

A huge amount of money in the developed world is channeled towards alleviating this problem. Medicine and professional care to ensure safety and standards of care are met. It has created the bulk of jobs in the west as it is essential, would do the same in Zambia if explored. Aspects of medicine and care for the Elderly and Mentally ill are specialised.

Two weeks I lost a wonderful Grand Mother on my wife’s side, she was 84 in Kwacha Kitwe.She had piercing pain in the chest complained about it for a short while and suddenly died.This to me is a typical case of Heart Attack that lead to death.How many of these deaths do we experience in Zambia?what do we attribute them to? A Kalumba? Witchcraft?

You can replicate these stories of our senior citizens dying of cardiac arrests in our arms and homes.A robust Ambulance and paramedic system is critical to attend to these emergencies in our homes-a 999 or 911 facility.Suffice to say that this does not affect the elderly alone but even our young people;our policy makers as well,former and current Presidents;what has been done about it? Are we awaiting another incident?

With a specialised unit for management of strokes most of the stroke patients do recover very well.We need these services in our country.A robust ambulance service again goes with a good road network.In the west United Kingdom it’s often within 5 minutes response time.These are achievable services,we did achieve this during ZCCM time,we had a robust Ambulance system.

Strokes and cardiac arrests due to burst blood vessels,weak blood valves and clots which are common in the elderly due to ageing.It is therefore not un usual for the elderly to be on Aspirin permanently and warfarin type of drugs to prevent blood clots.Lots of them do take medication for Hypertension.Anti cholesterol medication -Statins-are routine in the elderly.Blood tests need to be done for INRs with these medication consistently(In medical terms INR stands for International Normalized Ratio. It measures how long it takes for the blood to clot) .A good laboratory investment in all districts cannot be overstated.Its a must and need to be equiped.

Rehabilitation is therefore a necessity. Rehabillitation units assist the elderly to recover most of the lost functions due to strokes.They need to be equipped and must be in every District.

In Zambia we do not like to take medicine.In the West it is a way of life and in my view that is the difference between a short and sustained life.Our compliance to medication is poor hence rendering our lives short.We do not like to see a Doctor and often we see one when it is critical.Our preventative medicine needs enhancement.It is common to see someone by the age of 70 taking not less than 20 tablets a day,my Dad who is 78 takes only one tablet,is he so health that he does not need the extra tablets.

The Elderly suffer from urinary tract problems as well.The Kidneys and bladder shrink and it is not un usual that they develop an enlarged prostate or at worse cancer of the Prostate.These need to be screened and checked not only at UTH but everywhere where the elderly are.They may be prescribed permanent medication in the form of hormones to help control the size of the prostate gland or be operated upon.The enlarged prostate impedes on urine flow,not un common as well to find elderly with in dwelling catheters or supra pubic catheter which need trained staff to insert and care for.When I work out here in the West I wonder every day whether they are no elderly people that need these services in Zambia.

The immune system of the elderly weakens and are susceptible to various infections needing quick treatment and referral.

I care for a lot of elderly people on thyroxine hormone replacement tablets,tests are frequently done for thyroid functioning test.As much as we have an enlarged thyroid problem in Zambia known as the Goitre, I still think we also have a problem of hypothyroidism.
Care at home is what we must focus on as we are able to look after our own in our homes since we are not highly industrialised.We need specialised institutions for RESPITE care where those caring for the elderly and the vulnerable can take them so that they can also have a break for a short while.

I can go on and on.But the major point is as we are fit and well we should think about the time when we shall be un fit,old and vulnerable.Its not the money we have put in the Bank or invested when we are well that will look after us but the systems we have put in place.Alot of people have a misconception that our investments will look after us when we grow infirm,not always.We need to develop workable systems to do that.If you have a cardiac arrest you need an ambulance with trained staff and equipped.You need to be transferred to a unit to be managed etc flights to Johannesburg for treatment must not be a solution those are quick fix solutions to a problem for the rich and the privileged in the corridors of power.What about the masses.What about those in Shangombo,Chadiza,Chama and Mununga?

A workable effective social services is another thing our elderly people need.If we spend money on the elderly to feed them and allow them a decent life we will be living up to the tag of a true Christian nation.The Government needs to pour money in meeting the health needs and care of the elderly.Facilitating care of the elderly needs to extend to their homes and villages.Some one maybe saying where does the money come from?From the money we waste in corruption activities and other forms of greed.If we as a nation genuinely lobby for funds for care of the elderly it will be granted because the West is grappling with this problem right now.It’s a genuine cause to lobby money for.

ZCCM did well to send its people for training and attachments to the developed world.Government can attach people to institutions to the developed world to train and learn what needs to be done.I still think ZCCM approach was the best if it was emulated for the rest of the country today Zambia would have been miles a head.Most of the Diaspora Highly Skilled Zambian Nurses and Doctors and other specialised Professionals are willing to provide expertise and knowledge even for free to ensure the critical aspects of our economy are attended to.Identification of these people is easy and group them into adhoc advisory committees.Some are willing to come back home for half or a quarter of what they earn wherever they are as long as seriousness is implored,systems are put in place,equipment is purchased,staff are trained etc

We need to make it better for all.Elderly care is not only about washing and cleaning them up.It is about all these highly specialised aspects and coordinating the services.You require skill,knowledge and tact to discharge these services.I can go on and on.There is much more that affects the elderly and there care.I merely stating a case for care cause one day I will be an old man needing all these.
KALEBALIKA !

By J.Sakala
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