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By Patrick Luneta
THE history of African politics in general and Zambia in particular, has had an influence onto it by ethnicity and tribalism, which is a bait some political parties employ to peddle cheap mileage to the detriment of our national values and principles that the Republic of Zambia was built on and always embedded on the motto of One Zambia, One Nation.
A comparative analysis of the 2016 and 2021 general election results has a lot to tell on the quality of voters and the basis upon which votes are cast by the contemporary electors. Gradually, the general citizenry is becoming more enlightened and ascribe to political party manifestos, ideologies espoused thereto, and the calibre of the aspirants as opposed to the tornados of ethnicity and tribalism.
There is a gradual migration from the influence of petty politicking to issue-based politics. We are in an era of Information Technology and people, events and occurrences are easily verifiable. The era of capitalising on the electorates’ ignorance is slowly but surely vanishing in thin air.
Files of the recently passed campaign messages shared by the two contending parties in the general election between the then ruling Patriotic Front (PF) campaign team and the United Party for National Development (UPND) are well documented.
Those who went on rampage to make the thrust of their campaign messages tribal by an orchestrated agenda of divide and rule, and on the other hand, the camp that sold their messages of hope from the grip of thuggery, lawlessness prevalent then and the much sought-after economic emancipation shows that the August 2021 electoral victory was a victory against many things, above all, it showed that with a common purpose, the Zambian voters have unequivocally demonstrated the capacity to raise against petty divisions to great heights of collective responsibility.
The notions of strongholds were violated by the powers of a united vote. As evidenced by the vote patterns throughout the country, people put hope messages in place of pettiness.
It’s for these reasons that we applaud the Republican President, H.E Hakainde Hichilema’s proposal to incriminate tribalism and we call upon our Honourable Members of Parliament to be the peoples’ representatives as their mandates spell, and support the motion so that we have a law that safeguards the country from ugly scars that come with ethnicity and tribalism and keep a sane atmosphere for posterity.
To the party in the Government, the United Party of National Development, this serves as a clarion call on your leadership too, to effectively engage the citizens. A lot is being done in terms of bringing the country to normalcy and the positive strides can be seen, yet, a lot more remains.
It’s imperative that you do not get deterred from your campaign promises and mandate to deliver development across the country by the magnitude of the challenges you inherited but rather prudently communicate with the masses on where we are coming from, where we are, and what’s being done to take the country to the place of promise.
It is the naked truth that there is distress for a common man. However, messages of assurance and hope can relieve the pains of the difficult dispensation that you have been called to superintend upon.
The voter you are administering in 2024 is different from the voters UNIP and MMD had. We have an electorate that is gradually enlightened and needs constant engaging and assurance.
Before long, we are in campaigns again. Actually, politicians are already subtly in campaign moods, which if not regulated well by the laws, your time to govern will be cast in disarray and disturb mode perpetually.
Meanwhile, the days of voting are coming again where judgement won’t be on ethnicity and tribalism but on issues.
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