Parties blamed for inciting violence

The National House of Prayer Advisory Board and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia have blamed political party leaders for inciting violence by their use of hate speech and personal attacks against their opponents.

In a joint statement, National House of Prayer Advisory Board Chairperson Bishop Joshua Banda and EFZ Executive Director Pukuta Mwanza note that if leaders of political parties toned down their messages and instead concentrated on issues affecting the Zambian people, conflicts will be significantly minimized and possibly eliminated.

Joshua Banda

They state that by not openly condemning their own cadres when they clearly engage in acts of violence, it shows that their leaders condone such acts.

They note that the habit of finger pointing and blame shifting is making violence to escalate because some individual political leaders do not appear to take personal responsibility when things go wrong.

They further note that while some political leaders have condemned violence at some political rallies of late, the condemnatory voices have not been strong enough to deter cadres of major political parties who have continued to fan violence in different parts of the country.

They have since urged all political party leaders to immediately heed to the concerns and disappointment against violence in the country and take action to restrain cadres from engaging in any form of conflict, confrontation or any acts of violence.