LOCALS ISSUES NEED LOCAL SOLUTIONS

HOME GROWN solutions for local problems is the best way to go in all situations. This also applies to politics and in particular the proposed dialogue between President Edgar Lungu and the United Party for National Development (UPND) leader, Hakainde Hichilema.

When President Lungu met the Commonwealth’s representative over the proposed dialogue, he proposed that the Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue (ZCID) be given a prominent role in the dialogue if process is to get somewhere.

The President, who made the suggestion to Commonwealth special envoy Professor Ibrahim Gambari, also said the Church should be at the centre of the dialogue process.

We couldn’t agree more with the President because this issue has dragged for too long and has lost the sense of urgency with which it was treated.

We believe that the Church, which had actually initiated the dialogue between the two leaders while Mr Hichilema was in detention, should have an active role to play.

By Church, we are referring to a collective body representing the church in Zambia and not a single church as some might suggest.

In the same vein, while the Commonwealth played a key role in bringing the two parties to agree to dialogue, we believe that this issue can now be handled locally.

Without belittling the role the Commonwealth Secretary General, Patriacia Scotland, played, we believe that it is high time Zambians learnt to appreciate their own more than foreigners.

After all, a local person would not need to be appraised about what has been happening in the country or indeed to rely on biased foreign media reports about what is obtaining on the ground.

And there are cultural and religious considerations that have to be taken into account in handling the dialogue. As Christian nation, one of the tenets that has always been promoted is the importance of forgiveness and upholding unity of purpose, above all else.

As the President said when Professor. Gambari paid a courtesy call on him at State House on Saturday, the talks should not be perceived as Patriotic Front (PF) or United Party for National Development (UPND) process.

It was for this purpose that he proposed that the ZCID be the anchor of the dialogue process because most of the major political parties in Zambia were members and that this would ultimately give the process the legitimacy it surely needs.

It is important that parties to the dialogue feel comfortable with the process and that there is neutrality, which sadly has been a major source of concern on both sides.

Neither side wants to feel that the other has an upper hand, even before the process starts.

And then there is the matter of other political parties that feel they should be part of the process on the basis that national issues should not be personalised.

This matter has already been brought to the fore by many political parties who feel the issue of peace should not be limited to a discussion between two leaders, President Lungu and Mr Hichilema, but rather should involve all political players.

All in all, what the nation is seeking is consensus and to ensure that peace is maintained and the path to the 2021 elections is clear. The local players know what is at stake and would be able to anticipate thorny issues that need ironing out to ensure that the peace that the country has enjoyed for so long can continue.