CURB VIOLENCE

ONCE again political parties are vying for the Chilanga constituency parliamentary seat and al-ready some opposition leaders are said to be incit-ing their supporters to engage in violence. Like we have said before, this is very sad and all those embarking on a crusade to incite violence must be dealt with by police severely. United Party for National Development (UPND) vice president Geoffrey Mwamba popularly known as GBM is reported to have told support-ers in Chilanga to fight back if attacked by oppo-nents during campaigns, “Panga for Panga.” We find it strange that a very senior opposition party official would openly incite violence in the manner he did, if at all it is true he uttered these words in question. If he did, we can’t but help conclude that Mr Mwamba is indirectly daring the police so that once he is arrested he could accuse the police of infringing on his rights. But on the other hand it is not surprising that such utterances are coming from a man who has often been accused of violence in the past. Senior party officials, be it from the ruling party or opposition are supposed to be in the forefront to restrain their members from engaging in violence during election campaigns. It is disheartening indeed for Mr Mwamba to talk about bloodshed - “Panga for Panga,” knowing very well that violence begets violence. Is he go-ing to take responsibility for lives that maybe lost in chaos or indeed those maimed? Violence is the last thing citizens want. We there-fore urge the police to take Mr Mwamba’s re-marks seriously and hold him responsible for the havoc his supporters might unleash in Chilanga. In fact, police should not just warn people who incite violence, they should lock them up and prosecute them. How many times have the police warned politi-cians about the breaching the law during election campaigns? The Inspector General Kakoma Kanjanga did so prior to the just-ended by-elections, but clearly his warning fell on deaf ears as the ugly face of vio-lence still surfaced during the local government elections.

Given this state of affairs, we implore the police to act and stop issuing toothless warnings, especially to cadres and others in political circles who delib-erately want to cause confusion. Action speaks louder than words, treating perpe-trators of violence with kids gloves won’t help end violence which is conspicuously becoming a key feature in every election in this country. It is incumbent upon all Zambians to refrain from getting involved in all forms of violence during the campaigns in Chilanga. We urge Chilanga residents not to be fooled into involving themselves in any acts that will cause them to be arrested because politicians will desert them when they are in trouble with the law. Politics of hate and insults will take Zambia no-where and only destroy the peace the nation en-joys.