What really does an election mean to our lives?

By Clive Mutame Siachiyako 

An election is not like a distant football match between Manchester United and Arsenal to a Zambian who is not an investor in any of the two clubs. In such a match, whichever team wins will not have far reaching implication in our lives. Elections have a bearing on our cost of living, our access to clean water,  education and affordability of many goods and services.

Voters have rights and responsibilities. Our active political engagement shapes our informed voting choices, and not based on emotional excitement or liquor intoxication. Our right to vote is inseparable from our general right to participate in public life such as managing of waste.  We cannot expect a clean environment when we do not want to be part of waste management. The waste will not pick itself. It requires our participation. Voting too requires our involvement at different stages of election.

Voting ushers into office candidates who will work on issues we need attended to. Our voting is key in crafting policies that shape the future we desire. A candidate with the best plan on job creation becomes a better choice. Our vote then becomes strategic in implementing programmes that result into more jobs created in the country.

We have the right and responsibility in choosing leaders. It is our right to support and vote for a candidate of choice. Our right required us to be informed about political choices available. It is our responsibility to seek information and familiarise ourselves with what each candidate is bringing on the political table. Knowing the polling stations, polling date and relevant documents for us to cast our vote are some of our democratic responsibilities. Information can be obtained from the mainstream media and social media. We have to be aware of misinformation and propaganda as we seek for information. Our choice can be distorted by the propaganda from other candidates.

Our vote has power to enhance national development. Some candidates are visionary and can help us fulfil our ambitions. The people we vote into office can either worsen our lives or improve them. That is why we should take voting seriously. We should not be careless with it. T-shirts, food and other campaign materials should not disorient us. There is more to life than political leftovers dished out during campaigns. There are school fees, rentals and other requirements we should be concerned about beyond political freebies thrown into our faces during campaigns.

We have to read party manifestos. Listen to pledges from candidates. Analyse them as we make a voting decision. If we do not know what a candidate stands for, we will not hold them accountable when they come into power. Let us get involved in democratic processes for us to be valuable to the democratic dispensation. We can hold our candidates accountable when we know what they are bringing on the table. We can push our check and balances through advocate groups if we are not part of such groups.

It is important that we focus on issues that matter than temporary enjoyment. We should focus on what each candidate is presenting in solving problems we face such as access to education and training, health care, business opportunities, water and environmental issues. We should ensure our candidates know our concerns. Social media has made access to them easier. We can engage them up on Facebook or Twitter. Gone are the days when we needed the mainstream media to give spaces to bring our concerns before political candidates. We can vlog or blog them for them to see and craft programmes that seek to address them.

  We need to bring issues of substance before political candidates. Away from personal business, we should focus on societal issues that need attention for our lives to be better. Actualising voting is selling our future. It is setting it asunder. Some of us settle for raw deals, lies and cheap talk because we fail to think beyond the immediate. We get excited with t-shirts, valueless alcohol, caps and other junk stuff giving to us in solicitation for votes. We should demand more than freebies. We should demand programmes that bring value to our lives.

If a candidate claims the opponent is a thief, ask them what they will seal loopholes to protect public funds. Corruption deprives the country of national development. Let us not allow candidates get away with it. They have to put practical solutions on the table. If we continue taking voting like distant football matches, we will continue suffering and aiming for better life we will never attain.

The ball is in our hands. Let us do the right thing. Let us be responsible and act responsibly before, during and after voting. We have to educate ourselves on what each candidate is offering, know what solutions they are proposing over problems we face and we should ensure that they put what they pledged. We should hold them accountable.