Zambia’s 2016 elections: The aftermath

By Joe Mwansa Lombe Kaluba

A political system that boasts to be a multiparty democracy must be aware that being such means that there is competition among political opponents. Despite this responsibility among those in this democratic contest should be a primary thing to think about.

In every competition be it in sports, art or politics there is always a winner and a loser. But I think in contemporary politics democracy must always win. And if we want to see a much consolidated democracy the people should come first.

In this year’s elections from the nomination day through the campaign period and I think up to the voting day. We have learnt or are still learning a lot of things for the first time in the history of our democratic era. I think the past three months more or less have been characterised with a lot of things that I may term as democratic challenges and lessons.

Just like in every competition individuals, political parties, Civil Society Organisations(CSOs), the media, professional bodies, law enforcement agencies, traditional leaders and Faith Based Organisations(FBOs) among others have found themselves in what I may term as Chamaeleon Challenge.

I say this because this elections has brought out a lot of things from people or groups. There has been a lot of provocation and finger pointing from different directions. Emotions have changed like a Chamaeleon. In some cases I think people or rather groups have been selfish in most of the actions done in this vain.

It is said that elections come and go. In all this however the most important thing is how we as a people behave before, during and after elections. I have always echoed that we have only one Zambia and we have only one Nation. We the people of Zambia regardless of our individual or organisational political affiliation must work hard to make that One Zambia One Nation work.

In my opinion political party leaders and the media have a big role to play in this regard. People will listen to what the two say or dictate. Responsibility is key. Selflessness is fundamental. Putting people first is cardinal. If you are a politician or media institution and these things are not central to your cause whatever it maybe then you are just a flop, selfish and a cheat and more importantly this makes you a threat to our democracy and nation.

You don’t want to be the reason why people lose their lives. Neither do you want to be the reason why our democratic consolidation is being threatened.

When voting is done emotions take over everything. Loser will want to be winners. Winners will seek to defend their win. It is the two camps who will break or build our peace. It is the loser who might seek to be selfish. The winners might also want to credit themselves with the hard work put in.

My concern though is how we as a Nation handle this aftermath. As we know in every competition there are losers and winners. Despite this though fair play should be the spirit in the aftermath. Whatever these elections have brought out shows how we are as a people. What is needed is for us to know who to deal with it.

Stay calm and know how to manage our emotions. Those who are calling others names mind what you say. You don’t want to be the reason we have hate in our country. We have seen a lot of damage caused in this elections. Politicians and the media have done their part in building and destroying. People, groups and regions have been taken advantage of. As a people we are not left on this vice too,

We the people especially on social media can try to or rather seek to do our part to promote that One Zambia One Zambia. Being Emotional, Hypocritical or Threats will not help us. We will just end up creating a time bomb. Let’s now burn our differences and throw the ashes in the river. Failure to do that will be a big lose and challenge for our democratic process and the building of that One Zambia One Nation.

Congratulations to the winners and tho