AT the rate political violence is escalating in the country, it will not be long before we see needless loss of life.
Events on Youth Day where some Patriotic Front (PF) cadres and their United Party for National Development (UPND) rivals in Lusaka fought running battles, forcing police to intervene and firing teargas canisters, are most unfortunate and an embarrassment to the youth of this country.
Youths are the future leaders, but this is not the type of hot-bloodied leadership that Zambia should be looking forward to.
The urge to jump to violence at the slightest provocation is a bad culture developing in youths. It is not too long ago that there were riots at Government-run universities (the University of Zambia and Copperbelt University) and all that over manageable reasons.
The institutions are now on a forced recess, awaiting reopening next month, and we wonder who really benefits from the violence.
Then there were attacks on innocent people who went to a political rally in Southern Province, followed by another skirmish at the Levy Mall in Lusaka, just last week.
The gravity of violence in these incidents is worsening with the Youth Day event, leaving innocent girls and women hospitalised.
We have previously condemned violence and stated that it will have to be the politicians who have to control their members.
We should not expect foreigners to come and tell us to stop the violence.
So we are extremely excited to hear Republican President Edgar Lungu express worry about the incidents of violence and deciding to call a meeting with all political parties to talk about the escalating violence and find a way out of it.
In the meeting to be anchored by the Catholic Bishops, we hope the political parties, especially the leaders, will condemn the violence in no uncertain terms and preach peace instead.
They should help the youth get back into the path that will give Zambia hope for a responsible future.
The humility shown by President Lungu to decide to sit down with his political rivals shows a man with the love of the nation at heart.
Mr Lungu does not want to see any more unnecessary shedding of blood and any unfortunate loss of life.
With the general elections fast approaching, the need to curb violence cannot be over-emphasised since tempers are normally charged up towards and during the elections.
The need to calm the nations is vital.
The president said, “this decision is based on my will to see free and fair elections and not because I am a coward. We all have to meet and find a common ground. If others do not come, that is up to them.”
At the rate violence is escalating, we surely do not expect any political party or stakeholder to stay away from this meeting that should curb any form of political violence and probably shape the direction of future Zambian politics.
Furthermore, we expect various stakeholders like civil society organisations to join in on not just condemning violence, but going flat out to sensitise the Zambian populace that the political landscape has no room for violence.
Let’s stop the violence.