The Church has continued to continued to condemn the violent campaigns being conducted by some political parties.
Rev .Rudolf Faerber General Chapter-Secretary of the Universal Peace Federation says it saddening that political cadres are still engaging in violence 50 years after independence.
Below is the full statement issued to the media.
The nation with a few days to go before Presidential By-elections and we call for concerted efforts to stop this violence.
We have noted with concern that the violence among political parties has accelerated from the time campaigns started.
It is sad that political cadres are still engaging themselves in the act of violence just a few months after Zambia celebrated its Golden Jubilee of peace and stability.
Our fear is that if this violence continues, many people might not vote because they will fear for their lives as they will not be assured of protection although the police will be present at the polling centers.
We remind parties that Zambia is a democratic country and people are free to join or vote for any party of their choice and them as parties are equally free to campaign anywhere as long as they do not engage in violence.
There is need for the public to join and report any suspicious violent moves for the sake love and peace of our motherland as the law enforcement agencies cannot manage to be everywhere but need the help the communities where these incidences are taking place.
We also encourage stakeholders in the electoral process to join and help the police service stop the violence as it affects everyone and not only the victims or the targeted people.
We further, urge the campaign teams of the political parties to strongly preach about peace whenever they are holding rallies or public meetings in order to have peaceful presidential By-Elections on January 20, 2015.
As the UPF we would like to see people voting freely, without any intimidation by anyone as they have a right to vote for a leader of their choice.
We hope political parties will learn a lesson from the current violence so that they sensitize their cadres on the dangers early enough in order to sustain peace and stability before, during and after elections.
We wish you peaceful, fair and free elections.
May God guide and bless Zambia.
Statement Issued by UPF secretariat
Rev .Rudolf Faerber
General Chapter-Secretary
Contact: Ambassador For Peace; Peter
Yes tell Edgar that!!! Its too much for him.he won the PF presidency by violence and now he wants to win the republican presidency again by violence.shame to edgar.
thanx church 4 z advice.mean while vote for ejigar rungu on z 20th
The Church should concerntrate on condemning sexual abuse on Zambian virgins amongst their congregations! Most unwanted pregnancies in Zambia are a result of church members taking advantage of young girls.
Church are supposed to be directly telling pf president and its cadres that they should stop the violence. No other party is violent apart from pf!!
Disappointed Again! – Still waiting for the Catholic church….
Where are the church mother bodies?
Elections are just days away and no prayer meeting has been organised yet.
Instead of a debate I call upon all the mother bodies to call for a nation day of prayer for the coming elections and invite all the candidates to be present so that they can make a proclamation to uphold peace during the elections.
That would be good and would go a long way in setting the tone