Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD National Youth Treasurer Geoffrey Mulenga has observed that the only solution to curbing political violence during election campaigns is to stop ferrying cadres from Lusaka.
The MMD youth leader who featured on radio Phoenix with youths from PF and UPND, said political parties should came up with a policy and rule that prohibites cadres who are in lower structures of the party from traveling to campaign away from their districts.
He attributed the recent violence experienced in the just ended Sesheke by-election as well as Lundazi local government by-election to the cadres who travelled from the respective places to campaign in the said areas.
He said when leaders stopped ferrying cadres political violence will drastically reduce as the people who belong to different political parties in these places know each other as they reside in the communities.
Further Mulenga said the UPND should stop being cry babies as violence is also in their DNA.
“UPND should stop being crybabbies, their DNA is that of violence, even when there was MMD they fought us in Mufumbwe and Mapatizya. Where was PF which they are talking about today, they fought MMD and now PF and they will still fight the next party that will form government.
“Why should people(Cadres) travel from Lusaka or Kitwe to a By-election, when all the participating political parties have syructures domiciled in these areas like in the case of Sesheke PF or UPND or MMD have structure beginning from the section, branch, ward, constituency, district and province. Those structures are the ones that should be campaigning, why ferry people to a place where people live in harmony,” he said.
And UPND Lusaka Province Youth Treasurer Sampa Mwaume said the UPND youths miss MMD, because during MMD in the Levy Mwanawasa era there was no voilence but a respect for the rule of law including the same Public Order Act the PF are abusing.
He said the country never witnessed such things during rule of the late Republican President because he put his foot down and never allowed cadres to take the law in their own hands.
PF youth from the media committee, Nkamba said the rivalry among youths is because the UPND leader denounced the UPND-PF Peace Accord signed by their national youth leaders.
He said the signal by the opposition leader has badly influenced youths saying what message was he sending to his cadres by denouncing the peace accord.
He added that voilence should have no place in political parties and the country at large.
Both of these parties are very violent. The only difference is at least PF appeals to its cadres to be peaceful but the UPND dictator HH encourages his cadres to keep fighting. The man loves the sight of blood!
The reason there is political violence in Zambia is because there is no leadership. The Commander in Chief is failing at his job. President Mwanawasa (mhsrp) stopped this nonsense by letting the police do their job professionally
Real Olivia maybe l’m crazy when was the last time you heard ECL stop his thugs from brutalizing people. This whole violence falls squarely on him and the thugs seen everywhere in pictures together with him. Right now pf thugs camped at parliament without a permit brutalizing our law markers. Now tell us who is encouraging violence when his cadres are allowed to demonstrate anywhere at any time as well as carry pangas. Your party is crying foul because the people you have been abusing decided to hit back very hypocritical
@Lute; you mean the pictures distributed by UPND supporters? I stand by my statement. Dictator HH encourages violence so when police reacts he goes to international media and says Lungu is brutalizing UPND thugs.
ECL is the president of Zambia so if a govt spokesman person condemns the violence, it’s in lieu of the president. Where as dictator HH spokesmen are always pointing fingers. No appeals for calm whatsoever just like your statement above.
HH like blood he thinks going to plot 1 is by shedding blood never he will not test plot 1. Kalusa
PF cannot never win a free and fair election. Its either they win by rigging , or by causing violence, or by corrupting ECZ, the Juduciary, the ZAF, the Zambia Army and the Zambia Police.
These are facts. Period.
@Chief, never say never. No one destiny is in the hands of human being.
During PLM time HH was still campaigning and there was no violence…..now lungu appears and suddenly we have the worst political violence ever….
PF can not survive without getting in caders from central and CB …..the payment , reward to the caders is to let them control and run extortion rackets in bus stops and markets in CB and central…
That is why councils in those places have no control……
When councils take control of bus stops and markets , cutting off the payment system to these violent PF thugs for hire , they will refuse to be used in campain violence….
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In Sesheke, they took pre-marked ballot papers which they wanted to sneak into the counting centres had they managed to cause confusion on the election day. UPND Youths were alert and ensured that these crooks could not succeed in this evil mission.
ECZ is also a contributing factor to all the recent political violence in our country. They have the power to suspend any contesting, unruly political part yet they don’t do that.