Reggae star and Child’s Rights activist Maiko Zulu has proposed a peace concert to bring President Edgar Lungu and opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema to reconciliatory terms.

Speaking when he featured on UNZA Radio’s Lusaka Star Program, Tuesday, Zulu said he was willing to perform for free at a stadium concert in the presence of the two arch political rivals.

“I want to emphasise that the two major political parties, PF and UPND, have the onus to lead Zambians in the right way. So, let us ignore the power that the opposition has, let us not ignore the authority that government has. So this dialogue process should be supported. Let’s commend our leaders for coming face to face and personally, I would like to invite the two leaders for a public concert where they should show the people that they really mean what they say. Let’s come out, let’s go in the stadium Mr HH, Mr Lungu, let’s unite,” Zulu proposed.

“This has been done elsewhere in the World. So it’s a challenge on the two leaders, I will be willing to perform for free and I know a lot of Zambian musicians will be ready to perform for free just to see HH and Edgar Lungu show the people that they want to unite the Zambians,” said Zulu.

And Maiko took time to explain his newly released satirical song called ‘Maggie Mayela.’ The song which was played on the program, brings out different issues affecting the country and the immorality amongst leaders.

“The song ‘Maggie Mayela’ is some satire that brings out a lot of pertinent issues that affect our country. Since the last elections we have had issues of disputed election results, these issues are prominent in the song, of course these issues went through the courts. But everybody knows that the level of appreciation of our justice system is quite minimal, so we bring these issues out in the song. We talk about issues of media freedoms. I know that on paper the Post Newspaper was closed because of tax issues but everybody knows that is on paper, the reality is that the media are undergoing very difficult times in terms of bringing out important issues. There are a lot of issues that are silenced, information that should reach the people out there such as the information about our loans. So the media being the fourth estate, it is very important that they operate in a free environment. So the song talks about the closure of the Post also,” he said.

Zulu said the Zambian government needed to be careful when dealing with Chinese investors as they were more concerned with more profits at the expense of considering the local peoples’ interests.

“China has massive influence in this country. If China is going to bed with ZNBC, you know they are in your bedroom. They are strong because they have the money. The Chinese are different from others, if you and me want to kill each other and there is profit for the Chinese, we’ll get money from them to kill each other, no questions asked. So issues of morality also matter in terms of who is giving you money, who is investing in your country? We have had issues with some foreign investors, not only Chinese but other investors from other countries, who have continued mistreating Zambian workers. The song ‘China Town’ is not a new song, it was produced in 2006 and my MP Honourable Given Lubinda took it to Parliament when he was in opposition,” recalled Zulu.

“I do not hate the Chinese, I have Chinese friends, I don’t hate Chinese investment in Africa or Zambia. But we have to be very careful because when you sell massive tracks of land to them for example, they won’t care about the environment and the people around. We cannot sell our sovereignty as a country to foreigners. First of all, where are the xenophobic attacks? I personally don’t see any xenophobic attacks on Chinese. When people say they are being treated badly by foreign owned companies, that’s not xenophobia, let’s not exaggerate things.”