By FLAVIOR CHISALA, STEVEN ZANDE and REBECCA MUSHOTA –
THE Zambia Centre for Inter-party Dialogue (ZCID) has condemned the call by United Party for National Development (UPND) vice-president for administration Geoffrey Mwamba on his party cadres to fight back in an event that they are provoked.
ZCID executive director Horrance Chilando said a well-meaning leader should never entertain violence in words or physically.
Mr Mwamba, also known as GBM, was recorded in a video in which he declared Kitwe as a battle zone for his party and urged his members to retaliate each time they were attacked.
Mr Chilando said the right people to punish perpetrators of violence were the police and other law enforcement agents, not politicians.
“We cannot have people resorting to violence each time there are misunderstandings, no, we need to reach a point where people will respect the law because there is more to our country than politics,” he said.
Mr Chilando called on political parties to find better ways of wooing voters as opposed to violence because this could result in voter apathy during the general elections.
Change Life Zambia, a non-governmental organisation, called on the Registrar of Societies to ban the UPND for allegedly conducting politics of violence.
Change Life Zambia board chairperson John Kasongo said some leaders in the UPND had continued to encourage violence against innocent people.
“The party has continued to attack Government officials and instigating violence. This is unacceptable and we call on the Registrar of Societies to de-register the party before innocent lives are lost,” Mr Kasongo said.
A Lusaka pastor has, however, blamed the violence on a spirit that is possessed by some people.
Bishop Chikumbi suggested that the Government should budget for funds to enable the clergy and police officers identify people notorious for instigating violence and offer them counselling.