AS the countdown to the January 20, 2015 Presidential election continues, the campaigns to plot one are hotting up with several candidates traversing the country to convince Zambians to vote for them.
One unique aspect that has come out of these campaigns so far is that our politicians have shown maturity by focusing mainly on issues affecting the nation than engaging in character assassination.
It is pleasing to see our politicians delivering messages which promote unity in Zambia and fostering national development.
From the ruling Patriotic Front (PF’s) Edgar Lungu to opposition leaders like Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND), Movement for Multiparty Democracy’s Rupiah Banda and Edith Nawakwi of the Forum for Democracy and Development have been preaching peace and unity.
This is the Zambia that we all want to be associated with.
However, with 36 days remaining before we cast the vote, the only draw back are the intra-party conflicts.
This is one issue that has come to the fore unlike in the past when inter-party violence was the order of the day.
Those days we were witnesses or heard about some ugly scenes where cadres from rival political parties engaged in violent skirmishes.
At times, some of the cadres even had audacity of deliberately invading a venue where a rival political group was supposed to hold a campaign meeting.
But shockingly, we are seeing more of intra-party clashes this year.
This is not healthy for our political parties and the earlier they iron out their differences the better though most of these cases have ended up in court.
Despite the political platform being generally peaceful, there have been some isolated cases of violence among rival parties.
Therefore, politicians need to educate their cadres on the need to be tolerant and respect other people with divergent views.
After all, we are just one nation and need to learn to embrace each other despite differing on political beliefs.