Listening to the British Broadcasting Corporation run hourly updates (albeit same script) of a Zambian opposition leader being arrested for training a militia group had that chilling feel down one’s spine.
Naturally the story from a journalistic perspective may have been a hit but thinking about the deeper underlying implications to the peaceful image Zambia has worked hard to preserve over the years made for sad listening.
Most importantly it brought to the fore the question of what has happened to our politics? However, we should also be conscious of the violent scenes of old between UNIP and the opposition ANC led by Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula. But then that was in the 1960s when probably such acts may have been acceptable.
Over four decades later the country seems hurriedly setting itself on a bloody path with reckless abandon. To imagine the culture that has engulfed our politics where youth high on weed and given to wielding machetes have become a key player in our politics is to say the least shameful. If this is not something for the nation to reflect on as we head into the election period then we have to fear for the worst.
Why should machetes, pistols and pangas become our way of election strategy? What happened to the all too peaceful campaigns with the only violence being in the strong campaign messages? While it is not our place to judge GBM and his league of 21 disciples it is our prayer that beyond this case all of us must reflect on what has become of our politics.
Surely no election victory is worth any drop of blood in a democracy after all the country has lived peacefully in over 50 years and to imagine this is a generation of politicians that want to blow it all away is disgraceful.
God bless Zambia!
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