Mapenzi Chibulo’s death is painful

Kelvin ESIASA

By Kelvin Esiasa

The death of Mapenzi Chibulo is painful and has left a huge dent on the political stability of Zambia. It will forever be remembered. It is regrettable that Zambia haslost such a precious life in a political scuffle.

I feel the anguish and pain especially for the family. Mapenzi is one of the few Zambians that have died in a political scuffle that could have been avoided.

Republican President Mr. Edgar Lungu described the incident as retrogressive. President Lungu said: “My heart is heavy. 50 years ago we fought hard to bring independence, peace and democracy to our nation. For 50 years our nation has lived with peace, stability and freedom. There is no place for this type of violence in our society. We cannot let ourselves be led into a crisis by those who wish to instil fear into the hearts of many in hopes of gaining power and control. We are a blessed nation and cannot afford to lose order and take steps back in the progress we have made. I pray for peace for all my people, across all provinces. I have faith that the lines of inquiry police have opened will lead to arrest of the culprits”.

As the President lamented we should all pray for peace and ensure that peace prevail in this country. We should all be promoting peace so that the August, 2016 will be free and fair election.

One of the waysin which we should promote peace in Zambia is being self-conscious or emotionally sensitive. Self-conscious simply mean being aware of oneself as an individual or of one’s own being, actions, or thoughts. Self-consciousness inculcate into emotional intelligence. Self-conscious is the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.

By being self-conscious we will be able to avoid conflict. This would assist all political players to be level headed and ensure that they do not do things that would upset other people.
Secondly, we can promote peace by retraining ourselves from violence. Many of the violence that has been taking place in our community could be avoided if we all retrained ourselves from provocation. The Marikana shooting in South Africa is one of the incidences that should remind the Zambians that if you do not retrain from provocation disaster might occur.
As President Obama put it when he addressed the Dallas Police Memorial Service we must pray for – each of us. We must pray for a new heart; Not a heart of stone, but a heart open to the fears and hopes and challenges of our fellow citizens.
So the police and community should restrain from any provocation and ensure that all persons and individuals were sober in their campaigns. Avoiding provocation is the best way to avoid conflicts.

Thirdly, we can promote peace by embracing the commandment of loving one another. Jesus said a new command I give you: Love one another. When Jesus was asked “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Our founding father Kenneth Kaunda has always emphasized love your neighbour as you love yourselves. Loving one another is only way to avoid conflict. In conclusion as President Obama noted as we get older, we learn we don’t always have control of things – not even a President does. But we do have control over how we respond to the world. We do have control over how we treat one another. So let’s all work for peace.

Kelvin Esiasa – President – Zambia Society for Public Administration