Martin Musunka
11 November 2009
AS the four candidates line up to seek votes from the electorate in Solwezi Central to replace the late Benny Tetamashimba, they have been confronted by a strange phenomenon in Solwezi election campaigns - violence.
From the tribal overtone that took centre-stage in the Kasama Central by-election to the ugly face of hooliganism in the Solwezi Central pre-election crusade, questions are being asked as to whether Zambian electioneering is sloping towards negativity.
There can never be any justifications for violence prior to the by-election in Solwezi Central because the place has enjoyed fundamental peace during such occasions and the views of dissenters cannot lead to acts of aggression, this time around.
Granted, it is normal to differ on various issues but certainly, creating rancor would alienate people who detest such episodes and it is important that differences on basis of opposing political symbols are discarded and stakeholders concentrate on issue-based campaigns.
Political players in the November 19 by-election should be wary that, because of certain acts during campaigns, characters of doubtful inclination take advantage of situations and escalate levels of violence in order to satisfy their ends even when the respective parties are not aware of such events.
Political party leaders should revise their strategies and deal with such activists whose chief preoccupation is discord and the propensity for destabilisation.
Therefore, the decision by the MMD and the Patriotic Front(PF) and the United Party for National development (UPND) Pact to denounce the recent pockets of violence at the weekend was a mature carriage, which can only be achieved by forward-thinking party leaders.
MMD campaign manager Kabinga Pande and his opposite number from the PF-UPND Pact Steven Katuka jointly realised that violence was counter-productive and decided to hold a Press briefing to state their parties' official position in deploring acts of violent behavior by their cadres.
This is as it should be. Mr Pande and Mr Katuka deserve compliments for putting their political affiliation aside and rising to the occasion in this manner.
However, the ruling MMD to whom Solwezi Central belonged through the late Mr Tetamashimba is fielding a career teacher and former Solwezi district commissioner, Albert Chifita for next Thursday's by-election.
Throwing the gauntlet for the seat are Watson Lumba from the PF/UPND alliance, the Forum for Democratic Alternatives (FDA) has floated Muhammed Kalela and an Independent, Thomas Kafula has also weighed in.
While the MMD would be going into the election as defending champions, their candidate Mr Chifita is upbeat about wrapping up the mantle and declared ready for the poll with what he described as silky chances of his party retaining the seat.
"I am better suited for the Solwezi Central Constituency because I am standing on the ticket of the party in power and therefore, bringing development to the people of Solwezi is guaranteed.
Besides, having worked as DC for the district, it becomes even more advantageous for me to help develop Solwezi," Mr Chifita said in an interview before dashing into the field for a campaign rally by Vice-President George Kunda who had flown into the district to drum up support.
Mr Chifita sounded disturbed with the level of violence that had surrounded the campaigns and immediately condemned the trend, which he said, could not achieve anything positive.
While admitting that cadres had engaged in violence, Mr Chifita said political campaigns were best executed with issue-based messages that would give hope to the people and tackle areas of development.
"We have condemned violence in the strongest terms because there nothing you can achieve by being violent. We have asked our cadres not to engage in any form of violence. We want peaceful campaigns which will lead to peaceful elections," he said.
Mr Chifita, who was born on October 19, 1950 was categorical that the opposition were merely panicking and because of uncertainty in terms of their chances for the Solwezi Central, they had resorted to violence to shift attention, which he said would not deter his campaign team from soldiering on.
He promised the people of Solwezi Central sustained support by ensuring that all matters of development were attended to because of the ruling party's priority in securing the citizenry.
Mr Chifita does not subscribe to the notion that a candidate must be resident in another town to serve the local people of a given constituency.
He wants to call himself as a local of Solwezi Central and man of the people, who actually persuaded him to run for the office of Member of Parliament.
In reference to Mr Lumba and Mr Kalela who reside in Lusaka, Mr Chifita said local problems were best known by local people and declared his all-weather presence in the constituency once voted for as MP.
He said the danger with "foreigners" seeking votes was to merely serve personal political ends more than constituents, hence the desperation of seeking alliances, in this case, the UP-UPND Pact.
Mr Chifita said the frailty of the coalition of the PF-UPND was obvious because of the manner they had been instigating instability in the Solwezi Central, thereby bringing the name of the town into disrepute. "Because they know they have lost the ball game."
Mr Chifita trained as a primary and secondary teacher and practised at Maluvwi and Sanje primary schools in Mumbwa respectively.
He later, after his secondary school teacher training, taught at Bwacha Secondary School and Charles Lwanga Teachers College.
He is also a holder of a bachelor of education degree.
He has worked as district inspector of schools in Serenje, assistant secretary at the Ministry of Defence before joining Mulungushi Textiles as general manager and Zambia China Mulungushi Textiles as deputy general manager, representing the interests of the Zambian Government.
Politically, Mr Chifita has served as MMD branch chairperson in Kabwe, constituency treasurer, district vice-chairperson, provincial vice-treasurer and provincial vice-chairperson in Central Province before he was appointed DC for Solwezi in 2007. Mr Chifita is married with eight children.
Mr Kalela, born on December 6, 1953 is confident that the Solwezi Central seat would go to his party - the FDA which is headed by former MP for Solwezi Central, Ludwig Sondashi.
Mr Kalela said, if anything, he was the right person to be handed the seat after the voting process on November 19 because, out of all the candidates, he is the only one who emerges from within the Constituency. He comes from Chief Kapijimpanga's royal family.
In an interview at Anina's Guest House, Mr Kalela equally condemned the violence which he attributed to the PF-UPND because they had allegedly 'imported' cadres from the Copperbelt.
"The violence in the Solwezi Solwezi by-election campaign is strange and we know that the cadres responsible are those from the PF-UPND Pact who have been imported from the Copperbelt. We can only appeal to them to restrain their cadres from involving themselves in violent acts," Mr Kalela said.
He explained that all the candidates in the race were relatives who should concentrate on issue-based campaigns because the election would only produce one member of Parliament as the overall winner.
Mr Kalela, who is a human resources practitioner, has worked for the then Indeco Limited, Lonrho Zambia, said he would ensure that the people of Solwezi Central got the best in terms of development. He said he would improve health service delivery and build schools.
Married to Catherine with whom he has two daughters, Mr Kalela has just been blessed with twins (boys) who were born on October 19, and said that was a present given to him by God in advance as he was 100 per cent sure of romping home as MP, come November 19.
Mr Lumba, an accountant by profession, decided to remain mute when he was approached for an interview and did not outline his vision for the people of Solwezi Central.
He said he was not comfortable to have anything written about him in the Times of Zambia.
After ducking a series of phone calls for an appointment, Mr Lumba was finally traced at Saint John's Medical Centre where he is a board member and immediately retorted: "I thought you would give up. I know there is nothing you will report about me, so it's better you leave me alone. Besides, I don't like talking about myself."
Mr Kafula, who is a mine at Kansanshi Mining PLC, is little-known and all efforts to trace him proved futile. Even attempts to reach him at his working place failed.
After all has been said, may the best candidate win.
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