Politicians can halt violence through their messages to followers – Nyirongo

Politicians can halt violence through their messages to followers – Nyirongo
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sun 30 May 2010, 03:50 CAT

UNITED Nations resident representative Macleod Nyirongo has said political leaders can only halt political violence in the country through the messages they send to their followers.

In an interview, Nyirongo said violence must be condemned no matter how it was generated.

“And I think what we have seen in the last few weeks since Mufumbwe is a welcome gesture that both sides have condemned and it is very good that there is a process of investigation.

This is very positive for democracy because yes there are accusations and finger pointing but until you investigate and find out exactly what happened you can only speculate so we hope that the process of investigating the violence will be concluded and the results shared and those responsible should be taken to book,” he said.

Nyirongo, who said next year Zambia would be going through a general election, noted that violence was contrary to democracy.

“We are doing all we can to make sure that people are involved, the government, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has a very robust voter education programme that the political parties are strengthened and supported to conduct the elections in a very civil manner and these programmes are funded by the government as well as cooperating partners,” he said.

Nyirongo hoped that the process of voter education and awareness would minimise violence next year.

He said political leaders should heighten and talk to their supporters more and more and never tire until after the voting next year.

Nyirongo said in fact, this should be an ongoing process of educating the voters because that was how the leaders talked to their supporters. He said this would also help the country to have peaceful elections. He said with the programmes highlighted, he was confident that things would go well.

And Nyirongo said since the anti corruption policy was initiated, there were cases that were beginning to come out.

He said this was encouraging and a very important element of democracy because if there were suspicions and suspects, they should go to court and the courts must deal with these cases so that both the litigants and those prosecuting are informed of the results.

Nyirongo said the fight against corruption was a matter for Zambians.
He said the Auditor General’s report was prepared by a Zambian institution which should be lauded as a good democratic principle.

He said this should be encouraged more often.
Nyirongo said in every country there was corruption, but the actions after the release of the audit report mattered.

He said the cases in court just showed that the government was following up on issues raised.

“So we would encourage them to follow up on cases of the Auditor General’s report,” said Nyirongo.