Each election cycle, blood is spilled like dirt water. We mourn in rage until another election, while politicians drink beers together. Each election cycle, we employ democratic freedoms to indulge in violence rather than “serve one another humbly in love,” as Paul said to the Galatians. As Christians, we forget that “the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
Paul’s picture of devouring is that of a lion tearing helpless lamb to pieces—it is ugly. The shooting of Lawerence Banda, aka Gaddafi in Kaoma, the funeral at the Cathedral of Holy Cross and subsequent violence that ensued following his death and final service was ugly. But it also suggests the disconnect between politics and Christianity. In a country where more than 90 percent self-identify as Christian and politicians and cadres frequent churches, it is evidently clear that Christians are among those engaged in politically-sanctioned violence.
Who is to blame for this violence? PF says it is the UPND, while UPND says it the PF. As this finger pointing continues, blood overflows within our streets, provinces, and nation. Our democratic elections are won with human blood. The PF and the UNPD are equally responsible for this violence. Of course, the PF has state machinery to carry out its schemes. In its strongholds, however, UPND is as violent as PF.
To think that UPND will become peaceful once in power is a myth. HH will employ the same tactics the PF government employs today, should he by divine intervention, win the bloody 2021 elections. If history has something to teach, wait until 2021. When UNIP ruled, MMD cried foul. When MMD got power, most of us thought the violent nature of the UNIP regime would be history—unfortunately not. MMD became even the more violent than the very party it replaced. PF and UPND cried foul, and we thought PF would change things. Sadly, PF became worse than the MMD. Today Kambwili can cry aloud, but he was among the most violent politicians Zambia has seen. It is time for us to change this sad history.
Political inspired violence benefit from the cult of the “big” man. To be recognized in Zambian politics, one must shed blood. The most violent and vicious cadres are the very ones rewarded, while the peace loving political cadres are sidelined. William Banda, Willie Nsanda, GBM, Kawimba, Mumbi Phiri—count them one by one, and it will surprise you what makes honorable MPs and ministers. The more brutal, the better the prospect of entering the 2021 race to Parliament.
Politics is often described as a dogfight, but in Zambia, it is now a bloody combat. The useless and immoral phrase “peaceful campaign” as declared by the toothless Electoral Commission of Zambia in every election makes me wonder if we live on the same planet. The number of people who died or had their behinds and faces sliced by opposing cadres should not be a norm in our election. Violence is not the norm in the democratic process. Yet it is an established pattern–poor people’s blood is the fuel that drives cars to Parliament and State House.
The toothless Electoral Commission of Zambia and our politically influenced courts have the power to nullify election results of MPs and Councilors. Yet it is presidential candidates who endorse political violence. As sad as the death of Mr Banda is, it is suggestive nonetheless. Until Lungu and HH bussed Lusaka cadres to Kaoma, no violence was reported. Is it not time to outlaw the bussing of political cadres from other parts of Zambia?
Besides, why should we nullify parliamentary elections based on the free and fair rule, but count the presidential results? We cannot honor the 50+1 clause, while counting results from nullified constituencies. Until presidential candidates know that they will lose their power should results from one constituency be nullified, they will ride on innocent blood to get to Plot One. After all, the big man has the power to appoint even the disqualified individual as MP.
The funeral of Gaddafi at our Cathedral is an invitation to the church to address political violence in the nation. The Church’s failure to hold cadres and politicians accountable for political violence will lead to more funerals. The church must not wait for another coffin to enter our sacred spaces. We cannot sing the hymn of “Christian nation” and reward politicians with big chairs whenever they visit churches when their hands are socked in innocent blood. When will churches boycott the national day of prayer, stop politicians from entering churches until they pledge to non-violent campaigns? Are brown envelopes more important than human blood? It is shameful that we have exchanged God’s people with gold. Shame and shame on us men and women of the cloth!
Lucky Dube’s “War And Crime” bellows from the grave:
I’m not saying this
Because I’m a coward
But I’m thinking of the lives
That we lose everytime we fight
Killing innocent people
…
Who doesn’t know about the [PF]
Who doesn’t know about the [UNPD]
Your mother didn’t tell you the truth
Cause my father did not tell me the truth.
Unless we collectively address political violence, come 2021, our beloved Zambia is on steroids!
By Rev. Kapya Kaoma
stupiiid media….you still want to spin this incident like they do in the west…its over lets move on stop rubbing it in….
The one who introduced the panga, is the one who made it deadly.
Newton’s third law is: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects. The size of the forces on the first object equals the size of the force on the second object.
Reverand His Excellency Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu is the man with the instruments of power, the buck stops at him,don’t blame the people who have no power to stop the nonsense.He cant just be enjoying the trappings of power and neglect most if not all his duties apart from the ceremonial handshakes when he gets off his expensive plane.We have advised him,knowing his clearly demonstrated incompetence to change his team of the likes of Laughing Sikazwe and wanna be violent inept Kaiser,but he has opted to keep them.Right now most right thinking Zambians are just waiting for 2021 for him to complete his honeymoon when we shall see him trotting from one court to another,just as well that he is keeping fit…
You can’t blame UPND nor PF for this madness. The blame should be on individuals or citizens. There must be a change of mentality in the way we worship our leaders. A ballot is a secret weapon to silence a politician. Weather you fight and kill your brother, your candidate may loose. ECL and HH are enjoying while you and I are busy killing each other. I am too big and clever to be used in such manner. Zambians need to wake up and open their eyes. Politicians are the same and are not worth dying for.
Simple logical question. Upnd has been in existence way before pf as an opposition party and yet in Zambia history we had never experienced such violence and murder due to politics. Fast forward to 2011 and post 2011 and you will see a trend of political chaos poverty murders and violence. Those with a brain can you please point out the differing factor since 2011 ? If you answer that correctly then you will know who to blame for violence. The same was the case with my failed relations with mostly black women from all over the world. It was only after I got my white wife that I had peace
N.ee.z (upnd strategist) with the white wife! :):)
Fake n.e.z ,you are boring. The ril one knew how to put his points across nd was a force to reckon with. Stop cloning accounts . Ril one was blocked a long time ago , Jason
@N.ee.z, get your facts right. When UPND got involved the Mapatizya and Mufumbwe violence, PF were infants. To assist you, UPND have been a common factor in most of the violence from 2005.
I like it when i see people turning a blind eye to the truth Edgar has done so much damage to this country and he shall be punished. A professional Police cant fail to handle this violence, continue supporting Lungu,but am sure you wont be there when time to answer comes,you cant be condoning violence against the same citizens that pay the taxes that you fail to account for and abuse.By the way how much electricity would we have imported from the unaccounted for half a billion dollars in the 2018 FIC Report?
One more thing,let the declaration of Zambia as a Christian Nation be thrown in the dustbin of history,even the one who made the declaration was a thief and stole someone’s wife. Let us be real,Botswana our neighbours are not a Christian Nation and there is peace and prosperity, they are not ruled by thieves…
Things don’t change in Zambia. Those houses there; the same as when I left many years ago! It’s like the nation has no appetite to improve itself!
Logical and wise Zambians are not interested in knowing who is to blame between PF and UPND! What logical and wise Zambians want to know is whether Zambia has a President! That’s all! If Zambia has a president, you won’t see political violence with its ugly head of bl00dshed and loss of precious lives! You just need to go back in history to learn how the Late Levy Patrick Mwanawasa did it! He never resorted to finger pointing as to who was to blame between his cadres and the opposition cadres. He drew the line in the sand! It was all about the RULE OF LAW! The police were given real powers to deal with the problem! So if political violence continues, you should know you don’t have a President! Full Stop!
The time cadres realized that politicians are the same, liars, the better. Why should you fight your battles on politicians who will continue stealing from you? Whether PF or UPND, they are all crooks and are cut from the same cloth of deception. I cannot go in the street and die for crooks who will not even think about my children when am gone. I would rather, I go in the street to push wheelbarrows and earn a living, than fighting for HH and Lungu to go to state house. Even if they go to state house, nothing will change for this nation. They are all crooks and thieves. Zambians should just strive to depend on their own than depending on politicians who will just continue pilfering national resources. I will not lose my life for idi0ts who have no heart for the poor.
I think PF are violent and most of times are found at places they are not suppose to be.Why go to the funeral which is not there? If they never went would Upnd fought among themselves ?? Let us be sincere and tell point blank PF is a violet party and newsmen should write without fear or favour.Put this case to rest please
The writer is a hypocrite calling himself a Reverend. How many times has the church tried to mediate for true dialogue to stop violence and who is refusing? PF cannot survive without violence or rigging. Now UPND has decided to stand up against the bully. People who are not genuine in life start calling UPND violent when in fact they are left with no option. To stop violence withdraw bill 10 2019 (whatever its called) and allow church or commonwealth or SADC led dialogue. Reform ECZ, police judiciary, etc. Everything will normalize. The writer must be ashamed to call himself a Rev and yet he/she is hypocrite. Christians need to rise above this kind of pettiness.
MMD , UPND , UNIP and recently PF , with HH , GBM, etc have been participating in Zambian politics for decades……
How come only now with lungu as president, Zambia is seeing the highest political violence, corruption, tribalisim and militant caderisim ?????
Is it lungu ???
APRIL 2010
The Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has said the escalating violence in Mufumbwe by-election between UPND and MMD cadres has left nine people injured and hospitalized in various clinics.
Lungu should and must be punished,go on dream on we have seen enough of his complicity to this violence people are dying and you want to be twisting issues,even the seemingly docile police officers know where the violence is coming from.
Youths in both the UPND and the PF must seriously think about politically inspired violence in Zambia.The violence by one political party targets fellow youths of the other political party and does not result in any meaningful benefits for the youth on both sides.Violence is good and necessary when it targets the real and right enemy ,and, in our case it is the Zambian ruling elite that deserves maximum violence for destroying this country through greed,corruption,theft,mismanagement of its resources,robbing the youth of all hope for a prosperous future.PF or UPND are the same and are run by the same money loving, selfish and mostly recycled politicians.Zambian youths have to free themselves from this current crop of politicians on whom they have a right to direct extreme violence.
I don’t think Lungu is a reader. If he himself thinks he is, let him surprise us by replacing Kanganja with a competent professional. After that, let him ensure there is equal treatment between all political parties before the law.
Edit: meant leader
Forget baba,in his inept mind he thinks it is a strategy he will only wake up when he does not have instruments of power…
UPND always reacts to defend what is rightly theirs! On the other hand PF are the thieving savages who always want to impose themselves on the people thru vote rigging. When their evil plans are undone by UPND then they become violent and start making noise that it is UPND that started the fracas.
PF are a bunch of corrupt criminals.
The one to blame is the current Government. Mwanawasa stopped this nonsense by using just a word of mouth, he warned and vowed not to support all perpetrators.
Today there’s no voice in our government. We need a government that can give a point of order. The pf is like a husband in a house. Blaming a wife with less powers in a family is totally the weakness and in efficiency of a husband. So the problem is with our current Government.
Both the UPND and PF have ridiculous people. From their leaders to the MPs. Normal Zambians should be the ones to lead. We have had chances for this to happen, but the normal Zambians were selfish at those time periods.
Baba elections are about choice,surely between Lungu and HH who can you choose?Lungu has bankrupted the nation, pays lip service to political violence, cant discipline thieving ministers and himself, he is now killing us and he thinks blaming the opposition is being clever.Yes HH and UPND have their weaknesses but they dont appear to be as totally inept and useless like Lungu and PF,you would have to be a f00l to continue with such utterly useless leadership. Yesterday it was Lawrence Banda tomorrow it will be you or your children…
Violence does not choose its victims!
We are all potential victims whether you are PF or UPND or non-political! A people who have never seen the ugly side of W.A.R. tend to be naive about their analysis of political violence! It starts as Hatred! Then matures into sporadic violence, then full-scale war!
The onus is on the Commander in Chief to own up and restore the rule of law! Selective application of the law is the injustice that perpetuates violence! Finger pointing is not for a head of state. His or hers is to ACT! The IG has overstayed in that office. His deputy is not trusted! What the president needs is new brooms at Force Headquarters! Citizens count on Police to protect them! In fact, the job of police is not to brutalized citizens but to protect citizens against rogue…
In fact, the job of police is not to brutalized citizens but to protect citizens against rogue elements in society! We can’t have a situation where the police have no freedom and protection when carrying out their duties! When you fire police for doing their job, what message are you sending? This is no time for finger pointing but action! Finger pointing will just take us round circles and we will achieve nothing except more violence and bloodshed. This is not a simple PF UPND standoff. The hatred is much deeper even cutting across ethnic groups! Many wounds are still fresh. There is a dense and complex atmosphere in the country right now and all it takes is a spark to start the unthinkable – Zambian killing fellow Zambian! The other thing that might help is to bring PF and UPND before…
Baba elections are about choice,surely between Lungu and HH who can you choose?Lungu has bankrupted the nation, pays lip service to political violence, cant discipline thieving ministers and himself, he is now killing us and he thinks blaming the opposition is being clever.Yes HH and UPND have their weaknesses but they dont appear to be as totally inept and useless like Lungu and PF,you would have to be a f00l to continue with such utterly useless leadership. Yesterday it was Lawrence Banda tomorrow it will be you or your children…
The other thing that might help is to bring PF and UPND before the Council of Elders like KK, RB, Simon Zukas, Dipak Patel. What Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu must know is he is answerable for these crimes happening under his watch! All bl00d that is shed will be required at the hand of the person with the oath of office! To date we have many open cases of murder awaiting closure! The person who shot dead Mapenzi has not been brought to book. The person who killed Vespers has not been charged. The person who killed Lawrence Banda has not been arrested. The person who killed the NDC youth chairperson has not faced justice! Many have died and justice has not been done! How do we hope to put an end to violence if justice is not seen to be done?
Think Rawanda Zimbabwe and Uganda and thank those for what is Zambia today.
Zambia has no leader like most have stated. The man is constantly in the air, loadshedding, water issues, delayed salaries and many other issues the so called president is silent. We need some leadership than this pointless fingerpointing not helping or making our country better. Also, I hope Zambians have learnt a lesson, you can be led by people from the streets like Kanganja, the job is over his head he thinks our police are militants to be used on others.
There was no life lost in the Sesheke bye-election but some cops lost their jobs. This time in Kaoma a precious life was lost but some people still have their jobs.Lesa ikileni bwangu twachula pafula kubuteko ubu, bwalatupwisha
Stop wasting God’s time,these nincopoomps shall receive justice from the people of Zambia, God didnt put them there we put them there,why wait for God to deal with 1diots,it is our collective duty,and we should punish them.
One major reason why the founding father of the nation Zambia Dr. K.K introduced ONE PARTY PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY and the ONE ZAMBIA ONE NATION MOTTO was because of Political Violence that existed then amongst the members of UNIP, ANC and UFP.
But because of the animal in MAN as KK would call it, when MMD came into power destroyed the peace and non violence that existed from 1972 to 1991.
The first thing they did was destroying the Police Force to a Police Service rendering it ineffective and completely toothless
The Para Military and Mobile Police Units became non existent. These were the Two units that used to be deployed to troubled spots at shot notice and no nonsense would be entertained
Today, Police Service would allow mourners to be wondering the streets of Lusaka with the…
continued – dead body, some unruly student destroying school and innocent citizens properties, later on parties ferrying CADRES from one province to another during elections, cadres with nick names known for being NOTORIOUS and causing troubles and Killings all in the name “FREEDOMS and RIGHT” to protest and assembly at the expense of peace, freedoms and rights of other individuals.
The IG is being blamed for the confusion created by MMD. Please reintroduce the PARA and MOBILE UNITS before the 2021 elections in order for peace to prevail in this country
You are wasting your time, in Lungu and his useless advisers like Kaiser and laughing Sikazwe,violence is a strategy, they will only wake up in 2021 to reason…
CORRECT PEOPLE! I SALUTE YOU ALL, ITS OUR HIGH TIME TO ACT UPON THE WORD LIKE WHAT GOD INSTRUCTED JOSHUA FOR THE POSSESSION OF THE LAND. NOTHING COMES FOR NOTHING IF YOU WANT TO PROVE THE MIGHT POWER OF THE LORD; YOU SHOULD ACT UPON HIS WORD FINAL.