THE spate of political violence that has flared up in some parts the country is a stark reality of how desperate some politicians have become.
In some cases, violence has broken out among the youth merely after crossing paths, but in other instances the scary pattern is well-calculated and masterminded by desperate elements as a way of intimidating their foes.
The overall objective is to intimidate their competitors along with their foot-soldiers and ultimately scuttle their campaign.
It is a dirty scheme that is also designed to dampen the morale of voters in the competitors’ strongholds.
The other covert aim is to falsely portray to voters in other areas that some people in a particular location have become violent as a way of showing dissatisfaction against a particular party.
It is an underground game-plan designed to whip up emotions among a larger portion of the population so that they take to the streets and portray dissatisfaction to a gullible publics and the outside community.
The reference point here is the dastard uprising in Namwala of Southern Province, Mpulungu in Northern and last week’s fiasco in Mununga area of Chiengi in Luapula Province.
Another notoriety was witnessed last week in Chililabombwe where opposition party cadres attempted to attack PF parliamentary candidate Richard Musukwa.
Rampaging cadres armed with catapults and other offensive weapons attempted to destroy Mr Musukwa’s house and lodge in the border town before police officers rounded them up.
Ironically, the Chililabombwe saga came on the heels of a peace agreement spearheaded by PF Copperbelt mobilisation coordinator, Bowman Lusambo, and UPND Ndola Central parliamentary candidate Frank Tayali.
It is inconceivable that cadres could hatch a destructive scheme a few days after a peace agreement was reached between the two rival parties.
This is the more reason why the peace initiative must immediately start from the top leaders at national level, then drift to the provincial and district levels before getting to constituencies.
Evidently, a lot is at stake in each of the parties concerning the upcoming national election.
In particular, the PF and the UPND which appear to be the front-runners are working hard and summoning various initiatives to ensure that they capture sufficient support for the crunch August 12 polls.
None of them wants this particular contest to slip through their fingers as that could spell doom to their very existence.
In short, a loss by any one of them would be the quickest route to oblivion.
Against that bitter reality, some disgruntled elements have resorted to uncouth methods, chief among them, violent means to outwit the other.
What a desperate recourse!
Henceforth, the masterminds of the violence must “lay down their arms” and engage in civilised initiatives to muster enough support.
Politicians must sell their ideas crafted in their manifestos and convince the electorate that indeed they mean well for this country.
They should draw lessons from late First Republican President Kenneth Kaunda and others, who preached and embraced peace as well as unity during the time.
Therefore, political leaders must reach out to all their cadres and supporters, preach peace and unity, which Zambia is known for.
There is absolutely no need to maim and kill each other over an election!
