POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Dear Editor,

MOST often violence rears its ugly head whenever there is an election.

It has now become a practice to see most elections, especially byelections characterised by violence.

But at the centre of this all are the young people who fight running battles with their rivals.

Deaths and serious injuries have since been recorded in these scenes of political violence.

The recent Sesheke byelection is a case in point where blood was spilled.

Reflecting on 2018, NonGovernmental Coordinating Council (NGOCC) board chairperson Mary Mulenga recently observed that the post-2016 general elections period continued with the volatile atmosphere laced with tensions still evident owing to the delayed national dialogue process.

So President Edgar Lungu is on course for calling for violence-free campaigns in the forthcoming byelections.

He also urged youths to desist from being used as tools of political violence.

Young people should take President Lungu’s advise seriously because the President is right when he stated during Youth Day that rather than serve the selfish interests of people bent on fomenting violence in the nation, young people should join efforts to develop Zambia.

As young people you will not achieve anything if you are used as a tool for political violence. LINDA CHILOMBO, Kitwe.