POLITICAL violence carries the trappings of all forms of democratic degradation.
The violence that manifests its ugly images of public insecurity has recently been prominent during general and by-elections held in various parts of the country.
It is common sense that those that perpetuate political violence are power hungry and a deliberate policy should be mooted out to contain the situation that has the potential to punch hole in the country’s democratic credibility not only in the country but the region and beyond.
Perhaps this is why the government has openly condemned the incidents of violence that recently occurred in some parts of the country in the just-ended local government by-elections.
For this, the call is on political leaders to tame their members so that they refrain from the vice.
Failure to achieve that goal would easily translate into an absurd scenario where the national motto of ‘One Zambia One Nation’ and the declaration of the country as a Christian nation a fleeting fallacy.
We strongly support Chief government spokesperson Dora Siliya, who believes that it was unfortunate and unacceptable that violence was perpetuated by some party members at the expense of the country’s peace.
Ms Siliya, who is Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, puts it on record that violence had no place in Zambia’s flourishing democracy which provided for diversity in views and political persuasion.
This is why all political players should always be guided by the law, such as the Public Order Act.
To Ms Siliya, the Patriotic Front (PF) administration will fail to go go bed with incidents of violence that surface during the local government by-elections.
It must be supported that all political parties should embrace inter-party democracy and carry out campaigns in a civil manner, that is at least government’s policy and should be respected by all political players.
Political violence has the potential to reverse national economic gains so far achieved through concerted and hard work by loving Zambians.
Let those who perpetuate political violence swallow the truth that the vice simply negates peaceful coexistence, law and order.
In addition to security concerns, it militates against the consolidation of democracy and social coexistence. This in turn impact on the social and economic well being of the nation and creates imbalances in social relations.
That is why, it is simple common sense that political violence brings a complex set of events such as poverty, ethnic or religious grievances which affect the social relationship of the people in the society.
This is one reason that those that fuel political violence should be reduced to the heap of political failures.

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