RENOWNED Zambian reggae artiste and activist Maiko
Zulu wishes to take his sixth album "Justice for Hire" ("Kanitundila") to
prisons where he plans to launch the project this year if authorities
allow.
He says his project, designed to highlight issues in the Zambian
judicial system and specially dedicated to the prisoners, is not meant for
entertainment but to educate the masses on the current social and political
situation.
Zulu's eight-track album whose Kanitudila concept he derived
after a monkey memorably urinated on President Rupiah Banda as he addressed a
State House press conference last June, has other politically inclined titles
such as Who is Running this Circus, Afghanistan and Just a Little Herb among
others.
Zulu says he will continue to use his talents to speak out for
the voiceless and adds that his latest project closely relates to his
experiences during his arrest last February when he was found in possession of
cannabis and two firearms suspected to have been illegally obtained.
"I
called it Justice for Hire because I think my arrest taught me a lot of
underground stuff that is happening within our judicial system. And getting into
prison I also learnt that there are a lot of people incacerated, yet you know
they are not criminals per se, they are not guilty per se," he says.
"I'm
therefore addressing this album to people in the judicial system, but also to my
former inmates. There is a line which says 'one day freedom' for all the
remandees. It is a common phrase or slogan for the convicts and the PIs
(prohibited immigrants), and also it says I'm gonna piss (kanitundila) on them.
We gonna piss on them, the lying politician, we'll piss on the fornicating
bishop, we will piss on the corrupt public workers. Then it goes in to the
kanitundila line."
He argues that although his music has not been playing
on some radio stations, he is not worried as he hopes to reach his fans through
other channels such as Facebook and other internet avenues.