The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) has beseeched Zambian politicians to stop bickering and desist from using derogatory language on one another.
YALI President for Zambia, Andrew Ntewewe, said time has come for politicians to realise that politics is not about insulting one another and despising other people but about national development.
He told the Lusaka Star that addressing the need of people in the health, education and agriculture sectors among others was what should define politics in Zambia.
“Politics is about thinking about that woman in a rural area who is unable to find a clinic nearby and gives birth on the road. That is what politics is about.
“It is about how do we get this woman to get to the nearest health post? he said”
The YALI President for Zambia was commenting on the widespread notion that politics is a dirty game.
Mr. Ntewewe explained that there was need to get dirty-minded people out of politics in order to instill confidence and knowledge in young people that politics is not about exchanging demeaning words.
“The sooner we have young people that have a mind that understands what leadership is, the better,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ntewewe has called on politicians in the country to show sobriety during the impending national dialogue.
He said politicians should constantly dialogue among themselves to iron out any differences that may be brewing in the political realm.
He said the issue of dialogue in a multiparty system of governance should not be considered an option but a must and an ongoing process.
Mr. Ntewewe said YALI was happy that the main opposition political party, the United Party for National Development (UPND) and the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) had now agreed that political dialogue should go ahead.
“Let us not see a change of goal posts…We appeal earnestly that it should not be a once-off thing,” he said.
Recently, the UPND and the PF agreed to have the political dialogue take place and be moderated by local institutions, including the church.