POLITICAL WISDOM
SENIOR Chief Madzimawe is spot on to advise those contesting this year’s presidential, parliamentary and local government elections to accept the results should they lose.
Although the elections, billed for August 12 appear to be far on the horizon, it is important that during the buildup, the nation prepares the groundwork.
The groundwork does not only involve putting the logistics in place by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), the campaigns by the various contestants, but also preparing people’s minds that some will be on the “losing” sides.
It is those who might be rejected at the polls that Senior Chief Madzimawe of the Ngoni people of Eastern Province wants to learn to be gracious losers.
The traditional leader said the losing candidates must be prepared to concede defeat when the results are announced rather than threaten to plunge the nation into chaos.
His warning is apt considering that some political leaders have raised so much hype with their supporters that nothing will stop them from scooping the elections this August.
They have been laying the ground work for civil unrest by trying to discredit the ECZ for example, that it is not bipartisan.
They have for example tried to discredit the voter registration exercise that it has been designed to disenfranchise their supporters – without any proof.
They have also been preparing their supporters not to accept anything less than victory. But they are forgetting that they are not the only contestants on the ballot.
The elections should not be regarded as a matter of life and death. It is democracy at play with the electorate choosing from among the myriad candidates those they want to govern.
Africa has recently witnessed elections and what has been observed in general is the insistence by opposition parties that they lost because the governing party rigged the polls.
Some of the countries that have gone through elections in recent months are the Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Central African Republic, and more recently Uganda.
And a common feature has been the refusal by the losing opposition candidates to concede defeat.
Thankfully for Africa, we have not seen any of those ugly scenes witnessed in the United States when the incumbent, Donald Trump could not believe he lost to a rival - Joe Biden - he always described as a “loser” in the November 3 presidential election.
Trump whipped his supporters into a frenzy and had them invade Capitol Hill in a futile effort to prevent Biden from being declared the winner of the presidential election.
Trump, instead of leaving the presidency with his respect intact is now a disgraced figure, being impeached twice and now facing a Senate trial.
But as Senior Chief Madzimawe said, the tendency of rejecting election outcomes was retrogressive and a threat to the peace the country has been enjoying.
He said it was important for individuals aspiring for the Presidency and other public offices to put the interest of the nation first.
That is the hallmark of democracy. It is respecting the will of the people and moving on.