FOCUS ON ZAMBIA 4.0: SAME MISTAKES AND PROMISES, BUT DIFFERENT FACES

A happy new year, to my devoted readers and to continue on our series entitled,' Focus On Zambia', I believed the campaigns are getting hot each and every day as the 20^th of January draws closer. With the election date drawing close, I assume that eligible voters have made up they minds on which candidate to vote for since they have all filled in their nomination.

And in today's series of 'Focus on Zambia' I want to look at some of failures, immaturity and development, I have observed among our aspiring candidates, please dear readers know that all facts stated here are my own opinion and I write because I am patriot citizen of mother Zambia. This article is never meant to endorse any candidate or discredit anyone.

VIOLENCE

To start with, I would like to start with the most recent event that occurred in Shiwangandu district. On the 2 of January violence in Shiwangandu was witnessed, and this in all aspects must be condemned by all Zambian from all walks of life, because if we let politicians undermine our right to live in peace even when we have different opinions towards national issues, then our beloved country will be set on fire.

Furthermore, having watched the video of the violence in Shiwangandu made question the readiness of our police and military wing to conduct peace and stability during election because by population or development Shiwangandu is a village by all standards yet the response by the police was slow, what can happen if it was to happen in Lusaka the country's capital city.

Despite the violence already observed I believe politicians can urge they supporters to embark on a journey of non-violence for Zambia has an outstanding reputation of peace and stability that she has enjoyed for years.

ENDORSEMENT

This year's by-election have been characterized by endorsements, if not ' the 21^th century kind of job hunting strategy'. And having taken time off to understand what an endorsement and to state it in a simplified way, it can be an act of approval, backing, agreement and support to someone or something. And to understand why not a fan of endorsements am is that some endorsements paves way to recycled politicians to come back in our life and reap what they didn't sow because of a simple baseless endorsement during campaign trails.

And to avoid this trend of endorsements, politicians have to be vigilant against opportunists or political prostitution that have lost sight of their vision for the people.

TELEVISED DEBATE

Zambia as a nation has always failed to organize debates that allows candidates to argue out and sell out themselves through spoken word, but as always we have continued to entertain the cheap and belly politics we are accustomed to. In line with the above, I believe the televised debate would have been a good exercise for our politicians and having watched the Kenyan presidential debates I can truly confess on what a privilege the people of Zambia have missed out by not conducting the debates.

BAROTSELAND AGREEMENT

The Barotseland agreement is a very sensitive issue and whenever politicians promise to grant the people of western province independence if voted in leaves me wondering if they are day-dreaming or they are under some illegal substances. For we all know, how promises on the agreement has always turned out in the past and we as Zambians laying a deaf ear or blind eye to politicians’ promises that put the security of the nation at stake is unhealthy.

To me, the electoral commission of Zambia should have a code of conduct of all political parties because some hallucinations called promises politicians issue out to electorates are supposed to be held against them when they are in power. And as for they Barotseland agreement, the electoral commission of Zambia must put a regulations limiting politicians using it in the campaigns because it’s one issue that is serious and under discussion.

To simplify the above, the Barotseland agreement is a national issue and involves every patriotic citizen of the Republic, therefore if politicians want to play with it for they gain, then it’s our duty to reject them and protect the interest of the state.

In conclusion, the mistakes and promises of our politicians are ours to bear, since they seem not to take responsibility and endure a culture of learning from previous mistakes. And I believe the is more to the state than failed politicians who prey on its people.