Maravi

Shamenda warns politicians over 2011 elections

Shamenda warns politicians over 2011 elections
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Sun 07 Feb. 2010, 07:10 CAT

FACKSON Shamenda has observed that the 2011 elections will be characterised by violence and death if the current political happenings in the country are not checked.

Shamenda said political party leaders and senior government officials should sieve what they say in public because it is taken as gospel truth by their followers.

“I was scared when I read The Post Newspaper on Monday that some people attempted to burn Bank of Zambia guest house where the former president Frederick Chiluba was lodging. This is a serious issue and if not checked, the Cha Cha Cha that happened during the struggle for independence will repeat itself,” said Shamenda in an interview last Wednesday.

“Have you ever asked yourselves how the genocide in Rwanda started; people from Rwanda did not apply for it. It started small and in the end resulted in death..”

Shamenda said government officials and political party leaders should avoid making careless statements that in the end incite those who support them to take the law into their own hands.

“Believe me once government leaders start making careless statements and those who support them will feel encouraged to act upon what their masters are saying. In the end people will feel oppressed and this could lead to a civil war as people who feel oppressed will rise against the people they feel are oppressing them. We need to be careful,” he said.

He urged Chiluba to retire from active politics and learn from former politicians like Grey Zulu who had not involved himself in cheap politics from the time he retired.

“It is time that Chiluba stayed out of politics, look at how people are disregarding him. He should be like Grey Zulu. Have you ever heard anyone speak ill of Grey Zulu? No. Why? Because he is a respected man. Like Shakespeare says, ‘the world is like a stage, we all play our role and then leave the stage and let others play’. Why can’t Chiluba do the same?” he wondered.

“It is not good for Mr Chiluba to be disrespected like that, it is not good for the country, he was our head of state. But what do you expect from him, he is involving himself in politics and people, the young and the old are insulting him. Chiluba must leave politics for other people.”

Shamenda said he learnt a lot from the late academician and lawyer John Mwanakatwe who taught him that those living in the evenings of their lives should stay out of controversies by living honestly.

He said the incident where unknown people attempted to burn Bank of Zambia Guest house was not the end but the beginning because more attempts would occur as Zambia approaches the 2011 elections.

Police have instituted investigations into the attempts to burn the guest house.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, FACKSON SHAMENDA, POLITICAL VIOLENCE

posted by MrK @ 3:13 PM