{"id":44,"date":"2016-04-01T12:08:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2016\/04\/01\/zambia-political-parties-resolve-to-end\/"},"modified":"2016-05-03T09:40:29","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T09:40:29","slug":"zambia-political-parties-resolve-to-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2016\/04\/01\/zambia-political-parties-resolve-to-end\/","title":{"rendered":"ZAMBIA: Political Parties resolve to end violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
President Edga Lungu and Lusaka Archbishop<\/i>
\nTelesphore  Mpundu  shares a word <\/i>
\noutside the meeting venue<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nPolitical Parties in Zambia met on Tuesday, 29th March, 2016 to discuss how to
\nend violence as the country heads to the polls on August 11, 2016. The inter
\nparty caucus was convened by the Catholic Bishops under the auspices of the
\nZambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) and Council of Churches of Zambia (CCZ) which
\nincludes the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia who were invited to attend as
\nmediators.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nRepublican
\nPresident and leader of Patriotic Front (PF) Edgar Lungu, Hakainde Hichilema of
\nthe United Party for National development (UPND), Nevers Mumba of the former
\nruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD ), Edith Nawakwi of Forum for
\nDemocratic Party (FDD) were among the notable figures from Eighteen political
\nparties present.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe seven
\nhour meeting resolved to end political party violence ahead of the August 11
\ngeneral elections also noted that the media has contributed to the polarisation
\nof political parties through its conduct, and recommended initiation of a
\nplatform for dialogue to encourage positivity and inclusive coverage of all
\npolitical parties.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nReading out
\nthe communiqu\u00e9 Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu of the Catholic Archdiocese of
\nLusaka said the political parties agreed to ban the now common adornment of
\nmilitary like regalia by party cadres.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n“The
\nindaba unanimously affirm the following over and above all other interests:
\nCommitted to ending political violence through various political leadership
\nstructures as a way of addressing the issue starting from the party structures
\nand amongst political parties,” Archbishop Mpundu said.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Group Photo of the meeting participants<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nThe meeting
\nalso raised the selection application of the public order act by the police
\nwith a call for the toning down on the use of hate speech.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nArchbishop
\nMpundu said the meeting also recommended that political party leaders agree to
\nhold a follow-up meeting before the elections as a way of keeping the momentum
\ncreated in addressing political violence through the meeting called by the
\nChurch.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n“In
\nview of the above we the political party leaders present shall endeavour to
\nadvocate for a violent free political environment ahead of this year\u2019s
\nelections as a way of expressing our political tolerance for the development of
\nthe country,” said Archbishop Mpundu.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe question
\nof the use of machetes and pangas by party cadres was also discussed.<\/div>\n
\nThe Church
\nin Zambia, particularly the Catholic Bishops had expressed concern over
\nescalating political party violence that has caused shivers as Zambia builds up
\nfor the August 11, 2016 elections. They called for a meeting in which political
\nparties could come and resolve the issue of violence.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBy Mwenya Mukuka, ZEC Communications Officer<\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Edga Lungu and Lusaka Archbishop Telesphore  Mpundu  shares a word  outside the meeting venue…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1385,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/1385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}