Peace does not happen in a vacuum, SACCORD

SACCORD has observed that the country has the potential of becoming the number one peaceful nation in the continent if stakeholders worked towards ensuring that violent constituencies are replaced by peaceful ones.

SACCORD Executive Director Boniface Cheembe said there is need to eliminate all forms of violent constituencies as peace does not happen in a vacuum but by ensuring that the country continues to build on a culture of peace by constantly replacing violent constituencies with peace constituencies.

Mr. Cheembe who was commenting on Zambia for having come out third in Africa in the latest global peace index said there is need to work towards destroying all structures of violence which are slowly taking root in the country’s society such as ensuring that gainful employment for the youths who are usually used as tools of violence by politicians.

“This shows that our country has a lot of potential to be the number 1 country on the continent in terms of being peaceful by virtue of the fact that we have enjoyed peace from the time we gained independence.

“However, peace does not just happen in a vacuum it takes a lot of work as those countries that have scored higher than Zambia have been able to demonstrate.

We need to ensure that we continue building a culture of peace by constantly replacing violent constituencies with peace constituencies.

This can take place when we start working hard at dismantling the structural violence that has been put in place by many factors such as lack of gainful employment which has left many of our people in a vulnerable situation and thereby being prone to exploitation as well as manipulation by political elites who may want to gain political mileage by engaging such young people into violence,” Mr. Cheembe said.

He noted that with the country’s past history of peace the nation can move from ranked 44th in the world to being the 20s bracket and boost its chances of attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI)

“Zambia being ranked 44 in world ranking on peace is also commendable although we believe that with our history of peace we can improve on such a ranking by ensuring that we climb in the top 20s and thereby improve the country’s chances of attracting quality Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),” noted the SACCORD boss.

He explained that if the country is to improve its ranking there is need to address political violence that has become associated with the nations politics.

“In our effort to improve Zambia’s overall ranking, the country will have to address the culture of violence that has slowly become associated with our politics which in itself serves as an indicator on the extent to which peace prevails. This has to go hand in hand with many other factors such as the extent to which we improve the enjoyment of basic human rights such as freedoms of association, expression and assembly,” explained Mr. Cheembe.

Mr. Cheembe has since congratulated the country on its ranking as the continent’s third most peaceful country.

“SACCORD would like to congratulate Zambia for the scores attained in the global peace index for 2014. We believe that these rankings should serve as a basis for the country to aim higher so that we improve the general status of peace in our country which is good for affording people to enjoy the fruits of their industry and also make the country an attractive destination for FDI owing to its peace,” he said.