POLITICAL LUMPENS
POLITICAL leadership goes with humility, integrity and responsibility.
In addition, political leaders must remain servants of the people and be able to discharge their duties with utmost diligence. They must possess an inherent attribute of respect for all the people irrespective of their status and political inclination.
In Zambia, all political leaders must aspire to espouse requisite leadership qualities for them to drive the country towards prosperity and inspire the general citizenry.
Sadly, one overriding leadership trait that has eluded some politicians in Zambia is humility. They have simply drifted into an emotional upsurge instead of expounding alternative growth strategy with humility.
They have grievously failed to hold back their emotions. A Chinese proverb caps it all: “Control your emotions or they will control you.”
Politicians from both sides of the divide must always engage in intelligent and thought-provoking political discourse rather than venomously tearing down their opponents’ reputations.
It may sound exciting to vilify fellow political leaders in public, but such an antic exposes immaturity and lack of feasible political strategy.
Thus President Edgar Lungu’s stance not to respond to attacks on his persona and Government has presented an opportunity for the people to distinguish circus from real politics.
It should also serve as a signal for his political nemesis to recant their draconian approach of reducing the political debate to insults.
Indeed, some political leaders who not too long ago propagated Government programmes are now raising hue and cry over the very decisions they vehemently defended.
They have failed to contend with the fact that they have plunged into a dark political abyss and may not redeem their fortunes. The reality is that they will be wallowing in the opposition ranks forever.
It has been a very bitter pill to swallow to have been shunted to the other political divide after having wielded so much authority before exiting the corridors of power. Others have perpetually been on the wrong side of the score-sheet in each of the presidential polls.
In desperation, they have adopted a hard-line stance blended with repugnant language to disorient Government. They have been rowdy throughout!
Their political debate always proceeds without any tinge of development agenda or alternative national growth strategy. Little do they realise that they only excite cadres in their own parties.
They are flattered by their cadres who praise them at every turn even when their sentiments are extremely defective.
Since President Lungu has already set the tone for civility in political discourse, all Patriotic Front leaders at various levels and their cadres must follow suit and couch their public statements in a manner that will inspire the citizens.
They should concentrate on propagation of the party manifesto. They should not respond to every verbal attack from the opposition leaders and their cadres.
On the other hand, opposition political leaders and their members should focus on rebuilding their respective parties for them to effectively offer checks and balances.
It is time they redirected their resources and energy towards peace building through inspirational political commentary. They should start interacting with the general citizenry in a more mature fashion rather than polluting their minds with toxic language.
Opposition political parties are an indispensable element of multi-party politics and must thus exercise their inalienable rights in a responsible manner. They are a shadow government whose leaders are expected to exude emotions with due decorum.
All political leaders must sober up so that they seriously start addressing pertinent issues such as the application of the Public Order Act which has been contentious.
Under the current tensed political atmosphere, it will be an illusion to guarantee peace if all political players plunged into full scale party mobilisation and rallies.
Politicians must for once embrace civility and tolerance now as time is fast running out.
For the umpteenth time, we urge all politicians to freshen up and initiate political dialogue because the ensuing unproductive talk has left citizens bewildered.
There is no room for political lumpens in Zambia!