No room for voter apathy

No room for voter apathy
By The Post
Mon 04 Apr. 2011, 04:00 CAT

Now that the voter registration period has closed, we should be conscious of the crucial role each one of us who has registered to vote should play in choosing the leaders who will create the Zambia we want to live in.

Whether our country will have good or bad laws, an upright or inefficient administration depends on us the voters. For those who were eligible to register as voters but have not done so, they are guilty of a serious omission.

Equally, those who have registered as voters but will not show up on the election day to vote will also be guilty of a serious omission. Citizens who do not care for the duty of voting are easy prey to tyranny.

The neglect of the duty of participating in the choice of leaders at all levels brings catastrophic results to the nation. It is a great mistake to shun this responsibility.

It should be understood that the neglect of participating in the voting and in the election of good leaders allows unworthy candidates to take leadership positions and brings disharmony in our country.

For those who will vote, this imperative duty must be fulfilled carefully and they must choose wisely people who will take the direction of the affairs of our country.

We should use our votes to make sure the right person is elected. Not to vote may mean the wrong being elected.

If one cannot, in good conscience, vote for a candidate that meets the required standards, one should not vote for that candidate, whatever the consequences.

State House and Parliament should not have politicians who let us down morally and otherwise.

Our right to vote only bears positive fruits for the country when we choose good leaders for presidency and for membership of our Parliament.

We must do our duty as citizens by voting for people who will serve our country with justice towards all.

Our vote can help eliminate the unworthy and improve the quality of government. Let us use it wisely and bravely.

We should also realise that our vote is a powerful weapon for unity, justice and peace in our country.

On our voting, on the quality of it, the discernment behind it, depends the progress and peace of our country.

And our politicians should also realise that our people are not going to the polls to vote for the sake of voting; to vote for them to enrich themselves and fulfil their ambitions for power.

They are going to vote in the hope that their votes will win them material benefits, will give them an opportunity to live better and in peace, and see their lives go forward and guarantee the future of their children.

They are thirsting after an ever-more perfect reign of justice. It is important to maintain and strengthen democratic structures if we are to enjoy a peaceful and developing future.

And a very important part of these democratic structures is the holding of free and fair elections. People need development.

But development cannot come without a good government and a peaceful environment.

In fact, it is said that development is the new name for peace. In this way, peace is more than the absence of war.

It is the fruit of the right ordering of things with which the divine founder has invested human society which must be actualised by people thirsting after an ever-more perfect reign of justice.

We should also be aware of the fact that the poverty to which the great majority of our people are today subjected is impoverishment caused by the unjust political, economic and social structures.

There are people each day in our country who cannot meet the basic needs necessary for a decent human life.

It is a strict duty of justice and truth not to allow fundamental needs to remain unsatisfied.

An authority is needed to guide the energies of all towards the creation of a more just, fair and humane society.

And the government is the instrument by which we can all co-operate in order to establish such a society.

Economic justice requires that each individual has adequate resources to survive, to develop and thrive and to give back in service to the community.

The living conditions of our people must be improved especially for the low income earners.

Looked at in this way, politics, and the elections that accompany it, is an area of great importance for promoting justice, peace, development and community among all.

And as Fr Patrick Chibuye has correctly observed, peace in a country means the great majority of the people having reasonable access to food, shelter, clean water, proper medical and health care, good education and transparent and accountable governance systems.

And truly, if any of these things is absent, then peace is compromised. It is said that a hungry man is an angry man.

And there is nothing which makes people happier, more peaceful and appreciative of a government than that it should be able to deliver these services.

Peace in the country is about people having jobs and good salaries.

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in the circumstances beyond one’s control.

And the right to a dignified life can never be attained unless all these basic necessities of life are adequately and equitably available to everyone.

The enjoyment of the right to a decent standard of living would require efforts to end the problem of unemployment.

We say this because most people rely on work to earn a living. It may be formal employment, earning a wage in exchange for labour, or it may be through some form of self-employment such as small-scale farming.

Either way, there are very few people who do not have to work for a living.

One of the main tasks of any political leader or government, therefore, is to ensure that there are enough jobs or opportunities to work to meet people’s need to earn a living.

Where there is high unemployment, we have an indication of an unjust economy.

And where there is injustice of any form, it is difficult to have peace.

Everything possible must be done in the interest of peace and justice to maximise job opportunities.

And if this is not done, there can be no hope of achieving a secure and prosperous future for our people.

Clearly, the harm caused by unemployment is by no means limited to material matters; there is also an enormous social cost.

While simplistic deductions must be avoided, there can be no doubt that a connection exists between high rates of unemployment and the distressing high incidence of crime, family breakdown, domestic violence, gangsterism and drug and alcohol abuse.

A society beset by such problems cannot be at peace. And good leaders must be interested in the welfare of those in distress.

We expect them to feel the distress of many who have a big problem about the cost of goods, education, medicine, with the tragedy of unemployment.

Our politics needs people of courage who will defend the truth and demand justice for the poor, for the ordinary man and woman and others.

We should therefore turn out in numbers to vote because apathy is detrimental to our country’s development.

Your vote is a powerful weapon for justice and peace.