From my observation, it seems cadres have a lot of energy and to some extent ‘power’. I understand today there was some confusion involving cadres and the police. As usual whenever we have a court appearance involving top political figures this happens. But the question is; will we ever learn?
For a long time now we have stomached enmity especially between the ruling and opposition political parties. When the MMD was in power, we witnessed spiteful fights between the MMD and the then largest opposition party PF. It is the PF who were mostly victims during the MMD who are now fighting against the UPND who are the largest opposition party. This has been going on for the past several years and we have allowed it.
One of the things that get me surprised which must be a source of concern is that most of these people who are ring leaders are very well known by political parties they belong to and the police at large. Why are these individuals never arrested or why do they get released so easily and never get convicted? Sadly most of them are young men full of energy which if put to good use can help this country move to greater heights. Politicians have unfortunately continued using ‘us’ for their political gains and yes we never learn a thing because confusion is a source of survival for some jobless young men.
I am of the view that one of the problems we face is that we have more victims in this country than citizens. We have deliberately accepted the mediocrity we get from those we call our leaders and we never see anything wrong with that. From the last elections, Zambia has remained divided politically and ethnologically. We don’t even like to talk about this because I believe we are ashamed of ourselves and deep down our hearts we don’t like it that we can openly show such dislike for our fellow Zambians. The young people in this country have forgotten that these leaders we have now will soon not be there and we will have a daunting task to unite the country which is currently. At the rate we are going it is clear that if nothing is done soon our country may remain divided for some time. We must never forget that it is extremely difficult to govern a divided nation.
The police shockingly have continued being unprofessional in the manner they handle cadres. It makes me wonder how our officers are trained and if at all their superiors believe this is the best way to handle crowd control. Even more unfortunate we always have our friends from the media being affected and sometimes even get injured during the scuffles. I am worried that we no longer show love for one another as it should be. The levels of bitterness are very troubling. One day things may not end the way they always end. We may see things get worse and witness terrible bloodshed, at which point we can only have ourselves to blame.
Just like a car or any other equipment that need to be controlled must have a driver, pilot etc, Zambia has a leader who is President Edgar Lungu. When a car loses control you don’t blame the passenger unless I can be proven otherwise. President Lungu being the one in charge at the moment must therefore, do everything possible to ensure that we put an end to what is currently happening. He must take a serious step and begin uniting the country. He is the only unifier we have as the father of this nation. This is no time to only enjoy traveling around the world and put a blind eye to the political and economic challenges our country is faced with. He must be audacious enough and discipline cadres both from the ruling and opposition political parties. He must ensure that the police is empowered enough and be allowed to act professionally without intimidation from the ruling party officials.
I also urge the youth to refuse being used to cause violence. You can get hurt or even killed. It will be your family to suffer while those who send you to act violently may not even make it to your funeral. We need to realise that Zambia’s future is dependent on us the young generation. The way we behave now determines how we will run the affairs of this country when our time comes.
I end by urging politicians to stop being selfish and avoid using young people to fight their battles. We can be used in a more productive way than being taken for granted simply because you have not given us jobs.
God bless Zambia.
By David Kapoma
There’s nothing wrong with bloodshed if some people think they have all the power just because they have hijacked the national govt. It is only when the country goes up in smoke like Somalia or South Sudan that’s when they would realise their folly. In conflict there’s nothing like a minority group that you can trample over at will. Be careful.
We actually don’t need a unifier. Things are bad in Zambia. What we need is a divider.
HH , Nawakwi, GBM and others should not be allowed to contest
The constitution should only allow a candidate twice
….the car example is out of context….nowhere near to what the subject of the matter is or what the author is talking about…however..using the same car example…unless you are talking of a qualified licensed driver…not like a conductor upon observing his boss(a mini bus driver) driving and concludes he can as well drive or those drivers who go thru the back door buying a license…there is absolutely no political will or zeal to stop political violence…they believe it works to there advantage….
…at times you don’t need to blame anyone.. its just in people with different views…imagine if LT bloggers were put in one hall…with a big screen with LT site on it and two keyboards for opposing bloggers to post comments….there would be a total war….
I can only see Confused Policemen and Women in the picture chasing their own shadows – where are the UPND cadres kanshi?
True to say Zambia is a Police state
“Zambia has a leader who is President Edgar Lungu”…
Really? A “leader”?
More like an absentee landlord that just visits his properties at the end of the month to collect the money for rents!
He most certainly has no leadership qualities, unless you class incompetence, neglect of duty, laziness, corruption, stealing and drunkenness as what you want to see in a “leader”!
Leadership Qualities? UNLESS SOMEONE IS BLIND. THERE IS NO QUALITY LEADERSHIP IN OUR SO CALLED LEADERS, BOTH IN THE RULING OR OPPOSITION. BOTH ARE SHOWING WHAT THEY ARE. THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT, ONE IS SHOWING ALL ITS DEFIENCIES NOW AS A RULING PARTY AND THE OTHER IS SHOWING WHAT IT WILL BE WHEN IT BECOMES THE RULING PARTY.
GOD HELP US
let politicians talk
I am a Zambian born, father Zambian, mother south African, I am currently living in South Africa, currently I am watching from outside fence, i read a lot, i have heard a lot, the one thing i do not like is the fights, the division, i did not experience that during the kunda times. I will still watch from the outside.
@Wendy Ruth smith, you are wrong and miss-informed Zambia is much peaceful than South Africa. Most South Africans are violent which is opposite to the Zambians.