THE Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) says it is dangerous to allow politicians to confidently send out political messages branded in hate speech which have the potential to set the nation in flames which can be hard to put out.
General secretary Fr Emmanuel Chikoya has commended the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) for the timely indefinite suspension of all manner of campaigns for Chishimba Kambwili for breaching the Electoral Code of Conduct particularly hate speech which had characterised his political messages of late.
“From time to time, we as the Council have given clear guidance to political parties to desist from championing any potential elements which can divide the country. Unfortunately, it seems such guidance have fallen on deaf ears. From our observation, different political stakeholders have raised serious concerns regarding the manner Mr Kambwili packed his political messages which seemed to have an abundance of hate speech anchored on tribalism,” he said.
Fr Chikoya said it was sad to note that in the midst of the 21 days of national mourning in honour of Dr Kenneth Kaunda, who greatly desired and laboured so hard to see the nation united, that some politicians would want to ride on the ticket of tribalism to seek support from the electorates.
“Without fear or favour, we want to state it categorically that tribalism has no room in Zambia. That is not the reason why Dr Kaunda and all the heroes and heroines fought for the independence of this nation. That is not why they sacrificed their lives to see us divided and labelling each other based on tribal lines. No! That is unacceptable!” he said. “We want to remind politicians to understand the kind of influence they have on the people. Based on that, it is dangerous to allow them to confidently send out political messages branded in hate speech which have potential to set the nation in flames which can be hard to put out.”
Fr Chikoya appreciated the ECZ for showing that they still have biting teeth and stand for what was right.
“For us, while many Zambians have welcomed the suspension for Mr Kambwili and condemned his behaviour, we want other politicians to pick lessons. The Zambian politics we are all eager to see is ‘issue based’’ campaigns and not tribal, character-based or insult-based campaigns. That is not want we want to see,” said Fr Chikoya. “The scripture encourages us in Psalm 133, ‘Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.’ So the big question we want politicians to reflect upon is, how do we live together in unity if there is no mutual love and respect for one another?”