Maravi

Meditating over Mufumbwe

Meditating over Mufumbwe
By The Post
Sat 01 May 2010, 04:00 CAT

There is need to seriously take stock of what happened, of what went wrong in Mufumbwe. There is need to do this in order to ensure that what happened, what went wrong in Mufumbwe is not repeated anywhere in our country.

The essence of elections was lost in Mufumbwe. And if care is not taken it may be lost elsewhere or everywhere in our country.

As we have repeatedly stated before, elections are not a fight for survival where contestants should mobilize impis, militias in an effort to try and annihilate their opponents. Democratic elections are a competition to serve.

This being the case why should anyone spill blood to win an election, to be of service to his people?

We should not allow violence to dominate or characterize our elections because where there is no peace people cannot freely express their will.

And elections are the central institution of democratic representative government because in a democracy the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the government.

The principle mechanism for translating that consent into governmental authority is the holding of free and fair elections.

Where violence dominates the campaigns, it is not possible to have free and fair elections because people will not be able to express themselves freely out of fair of repression.

Some of them may even stay away from polling stations for fear of being victimized, of being harassed or beaten.

And in the light of the violence that characterized the Mufumbwe parliamentary by-election for which we blame Rupiah Banda and his cadres, we make a special appeal to the government and to the ruling MMD to realize that they have a serious responsibility.

As facilitators of the elections, they should ensure that elections are held in an atmosphere devoid of violence or intimidation of any form.

To do this they will have to first ensure that the concerns of all other participants are adequately addressed.

They will have to show political maturity and sincere aspiration for peace and harmony anchored in justice. Their own campaigns should avoid provocative statements and actions.

Rupiah needs to change his style of doing politics. His entire political campaign seems to be anchored on singling out his opponents for victimization by accusing them of all sorts of things and then setting cadres on them.

Rupiah practices politics of division instead of looking for the common good of all people and enter into sincere dialogue with his opponents.

Violence must be avoided because, as we have already pointed out, the electoral campaign should not be confused with a battle field where the aim is to destroy the other.

They shouldn’t forget that real political victory lies on the ideals proposed, on the ethical values of the candidates, on the respect for the freedom of choice of all citizens, and not on any form of moral pressure or intimidation of political opponents or voters.

We say this because voting only bears positive fruits for the country when people freely and fairly choose their representatives who will serve the community with justice towards all; people who consider the public interest rather than their own and who respect the rights of others.

Good elections require intelligent and responsible participation of all voters. Where there is violence and intimidation, this is not possible.

Our vote should not be used as a tool for division, disunity but as a powerful weapon for unity, an instrument of justice and peace. On our voting, on the quality of it, the discernment behind it, depend the progress and peace of our country.

The interests of the political parties should be kept subordinate to the public good. It is always important to carry out political campaigns in a peaceful and honest way, devoid of any violence and slander of other opponents.

All citizens must be guided by the truth, integrity and justice. It is important for all our politicians to remind themselves that elections are for the good of the people and the country, and not for a political survival of any individual or party.

If the spirit of the primacy of the common good were to animate all our political players, including Rupiah, will would not be witnessing such violence which leaves the public dismayed and disheartened.

There is need for our politicians to remind themselves of the noble goals of political activity, and especially of elections.

Politics and the elections that accompany it, aims at the promotion of the common good and the service of all people. We should all be moved with indignation whenever there is lust for power that fuels intolerance, intimidation and violence.

Where there is electoral violence citizens will never be confident that the results are accurate and reflect their will and indeed that the government does rest upon their consent.

Political competitors don’t necessarily have to like each other, but they must tolerate one another and acknowledge that each has a legitimate and important role to play.

And the ground rules, together with the behaviour of the President and other key politicians, must encourage tolerance and civility in public discourse.

Moreover, no matter who wins, all should cooperate in solving the common problems of the society.

Electoral violence also leads to voter apathy.

And the lingering danger of voter apathy is not that public offices will go unfilled, but that office holders will be elected by smaller and smaller percentages of eligible voters.

And without increased participation, elections will start to become useless and people maybe forced to find other ways that are less desirable of choosing their leaders and democracy will begin to weaken.

Voting in an election of public officials is the most visible and common form of participation by citizens in the governance of their country, and also the most fundamental.

Therefore, the ability to conduct peaceful, free and fair elections is at the core of establishing a democratic society.

Election campaigns must be peaceful because their function is deadly serious: to provide a peaceful and fair method by which the citizens can select their leaders and have a meaningful role in determining their own destiny.

It is for these reasons that we feel Rupiah needs to do much more in his conduct to set an example that will lead his party and all Zambians to a culture of tolerance and help remove violence from our elections.

Rupiah could have stopped the violence that rocked Mufumbwe because he started it and it was within his powers to stop it.

He chose not to stop it because he thought that would win him a parliamentary by-election.

He didn’t win albeit the violence. Rupiah resorted to violence because he knew that he and his party were not popular in the area and they had to use brute force to intimidate the people to vote for them.

This seems to be a common phenomena whenever and wherever the MMD is not popular. In areas where they are popular it’s very rare that they resort to violence.

But this is a recipe for disaster which must be stopped or else we risk everything that our people have struggled to achieve in terms of national unity, peace and stability. It’s clear from both Mufumbwe and Milanzi that the MMD is losing political grip.

They lost Mufumbwe, which was their constituency to UPND. And their performance in Milanzi, although they won, there isn’t much improvement and the opposition is closing up on them. And opposition PF has shown serious improvements in Milanzi that cannot be ignored.

This is not a good sign but its something which should be taken sensibly, calmly and with humility. Winning or losing an election is not a matter of life and death in a democracy. These are things people should get used to in a multi-party dispensation.

Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, POLITICAL VIOLENCE

posted by MrK @ 4:35 AM