Friday, March 29, 2024

Zambia Police Disrupt a Pastors Meeting to Discuss the National Budget

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Ndola clergymen say they are still in shock why the Police disrupted a meeting that was organized by the Centre for Trade Policy and Development to reflect on the proposed 2019 national budget.

The police on Friday afternoon disrupted a meeting and picked up Pastor George Palo who had organized the meeting.

CTPD had organized a meeting with Ndola pastors to reflect on the budget with Church leaders in Ndola.

The meeting was at Ndola Central Baptist Church which attracted a number of pastors from different denominations.

But other Pastors have complained that it is unfair for the police to stop a meeting that is discussing national development.

Pastor Brian Chanda said what the police did is very unfortunate.

“Then how are we as the clergy going to particular in national development. If we shun such meetings, we will be called names. Now we come so that we can contribute, the police arrest us and disrupt our meeting. Then what role should we play in the governance of the country? We are stakeholders,” Pastor Chanda said.

He said the Pastors should not just be respected and needed if its for national prayers only.

Pastor Chanda said the Church needs to be respected because it can never plan anything evil against the government.

He said the Church works with the government of the day.

“So it is not good that we can be treated like this. It is not fair. We need to be respected. So these police officers should be told to have respect for us. The same people that politicians asks votes from, are the same people that we preach to,” Pastor Chanda said.

52 COMMENTS

    • @ Mushota, genuine intellectualism is not in the piece of paper or academic title but what you are doing and writing. On this platform, even a fool can claim to be a Professor but i judge them by their fruits. Maybe your PhD may be in the field of body intelligence and the likes which rarely involves critical thinking and analysis.

    • Do these police men and women even know where the salaries they draw every month comes from? The same people they are abusing everyday are paying huge taxes just for them to feed their families or they also ignorant like of cadres who thought social cash transfer funds comes from someone ’s pockets, even dancing and praising him kanshi ni donor money.

    • @Mushota, genuine intellectualism is not in a piece of paper or academic title but in what you are doing and writing. On this platform, even a fool can claim to be a Professor but i judge them by their fruits. Maybe your PhD field concerns body intelligence or the likes that don’t involve much critical thinking or analysis.

    • @Mushota, genuine intellectualism is not on a piece of paper or academic title but in what you are doing and writing. On this platform, even a fool can claim to be a Professor but I judge them by their fruits. Maybe your PhD concerns the field of body intelligence and the likes which rarely involves critical thinking and analysis.

    • Colonial public order Act needs to be repealed. Our hard fought freedom of speech, association has been stolen by police due to this archaic law which was drafted by British colonialists to stifle African voices.

      Today Tin-pot Dictators like Lungu thrive on this ancient law to shut-up/arrest anyone with an opposing view especially during elections & now when PF00Ls popularity has gone down due to his economic failure.

      FREE PASTOR PALO, ABASH PUBLIC ORDER ACT!!!!

    • No.1 must be a confirmed patient. Whats her name again, Mutota, a f0ol from all dimensions. In a democracy there is freedom of assembly madam. The reason the Justice minister is getting submissions to change the public order act is because it is proven that it is an enemy of democracy

    • And it’s October, a historical month in which we mark our independence anniversary on the 24th day, hold so-called national day of prayer, fasting and reconciliation and people get arrested for this! There are times when I think that a scholar from say Germany, France or Italy be invited every year during October to talk to Zambians what it has taken to build a nation out of previously distinct communities as has happened in these nations. Granted there are differences with Zambia since these aren’t post-colonial nations. Perhaps Singapore would be even better because it is a post-colonial political outfit just like Zambia. These PF chaps think it is just a matter of regurgitating the mantra “one Zambia, one nation”.

    • I suspect Mushota isn’t really a human being but a computer troll from some foreign power who knows the weaknesses Africans have when it comes to titles like Dr, Prof etc and how they are used inappropriately and in wrong contexts. There are many European and American politicians with PhDs and have even been professors at universities but they do not use such titles in politics because they are just out of place. Mushota is mocking the PF and Zambians in general in case some do not get it.

    • I am sure CHILDISH was not there! Patrice Lumumba was not there either. Nothing wrong. YOu do not expect to know everything about security matters. Well done ZP. Next time you find some dung lying around kick it too. We do not want our children to suffer from MAD COW DISEASE.

    • What are Zambians waiting for? Why should the whole country suffer just because of one person? Lets do a Mugabe on this guy. This is too much

  1. Ministry of Churches stinks maggots. Just what has come of these PF dunderheads. Where are we heading to people.
    Whats going on? I am sure someone somewhere has gone bananas. How I wish they disrupted the gathering in Kabwe on the day when they denied people beer.
    The end is near. Last kicks of a dying pamafi!!!!!!
    Disaster!!!!!

  2. Story like this, should be heard from both sides, Pastor and police service.

    I would like to KNOW;

    Why the police service disrupted their clergymen’ s gathering.?

    How possible that police commands can reinforce their duties just to disrupt clergy members?

    Why only baptist clergymen were victims while others Church organizations as well as other relevant and irrelevant organizations discuss National budget..?

    The truth is that modern religious groups have turn their beliefs on money. Money and wealth have come to confuse so called men of God .THEY LOVE MONEY THAN GOD ALMIGHTY they claim to serve.
    So this story has a lot to learn…

    • Mr. P, my friend, this was not a Baptist church meeting. Pastors in Ndola use the Baptist church building for their meetings. Pastor Palo, the organizer of this meeting is not a Baptist pastor.

  3. That you are Pastors does not grant you exemption from the application of the law in general, and the Public Order Act in particular, for no one is above the law.

    • @Bozo, I really expected an intelligent discourse on why you think it was wrong for the Police to act in the manner they did against these Pastors.

      But insults and emotionally charged debate? Well, quite obviously we were brought up differently.

      Goodbye Lusaka Times.

  4. Problem with such behaviour being exhibited by ba Jona, Kaizer, & Chimpyiongo, is when people are denied space to vent their concerns, & discuss national issues that concern their well-being, one creates a pressure cooker situation where people have ZERO OPTION, but to organise a Constantine Chiwenga, so P.F. ought to tread carefully on this issue of repression.
    Rather than stop people raising concerns about what’s happening to their taxes, which are HUGE in Zambia, Jona & his cronies should STOP plundering the treasury, & just develop Zambia, & such meetings will become irrelevant. Does NOT take a rocket scientist to work this out.

  5. Do you really need a permit to gather in a secluded place to discuss the national budget? Paranoia! More money has been allocated in enforcing the public order act. This is typical of a Dictatorship. These are the people who attended the National Prayer Day, it had no impact because the objective was of political nature.

  6. I have always said this convicted thief and debarred lawyer is a dictator, in a democracy people are allowed to gather and discuss anything try want including his brutality but in Zambia u can’t PFoools police will land on u like a tone of brikes

  7. PF brand of democracy, as espounded by one visionary, Michael Chilufya Sata, the worst thing that could ever happen to a country like Zambia after upnd trib.alism. Ever wondered why he could not finish enjoying a full term? Ask the same pastors.

    You only become paranoid if you have done something terribly wrong. So has PF done something terribly wrong? In the budget?

    • You seem to be waking up cader….you better get a move on or your country will be like Congo when lungu finishes with it , by the time you fully wake up…

  8. By definition, a pastor is a shepherd of souls who’s duty is to spiritually guide and take care of the sheep (saints) of God’s pasture. “Pastorem” the original Latin word means “to feed spiritually”.

    In John 21:15 Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him. Each time Peter said “Yes!” Jesus commanded him to feed his sheep. This shows that only those who truly love him will also care for his people.

    Those calling themselves pastors nowadays need to ask themselves who they really love. In my Bible, I read nowhere about Jesus and his disciples discussing the national budget of that time, so why on earth should his followers do so?

    • In Zambia the clergy is called upon to help in matters of the country, but only when they’re asked by people in power and never when they do it by themselves? Because they know they’re doing something wrong so they don’t want anyone to speak about it? Let’s be fair and just…

    • Are you paying the same taxes? Are you paying the same amounts for fuel as the rest of us? We are where we are because people like you are accomplices to our current situation….

  9. Kapoyongo, davis mwila and that OP man have been tought well by the Chinese ……give the natives the illusion of freedom by giving them some space in forums with limited audiences , like prime tv and the mast….but clamp down hard on any information sharing in bodies that have can have mass distribution of information of the true state of affairs among the general populance like church bodies ……

  10. Why does Lungu allow Sumaili to sit in Cabinet Meetings at State House when she is at the tail end of politics in Zambia? Mind boggling when one thinks about it that the Clergy are not supposed to talk even look at budget speech!

  11. Matthew 16:23-27 New King James Version (NKJV)

    23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

  12. What a backwards country. Someone called Mushota says she loves it and has a PHD? And what does that prove? Curtailing freedom of speech to save one’s political party in power? What a shameful use of the police. Nobody in their right sense of mind would want to invest in a country that tells you, be quiet and stay in line. UNIP never left Zambia and the old tactics of using fear and intimidation still work.So this was unlawful assembly? Please. Democracy in Zambia has not grown an inch, the only thing Democratic about Zambia is we hold elections and everything else that follows is a one party controlled Government. But on the other end, when people vote on tribal lines and vote for Lungu who has not advocated how he will do on poverty, job creation and national debt, I think you all…

  13. Comment:The pastors where wrong.. they needed a police permit to do what they wanted and the Bible talks about supporting the government

  14. I think all of you are insane. The story is one sided and before you know the truth you are all apart from one blogger coneeding condemning. Nother longoing ago one pastor ‘ s crusade was cancelled and you call them police and the Presido names. But what happened this year? The same pastor was a candidate for upnd during Lusaka mayoral by-election. Take your time. Don’t just conclude. Very soon you will know the motive behind that meeting. Its the job of the police to capture info and they did just that.

  15. #Nine Chale, you have just lost it. I respect your balance views but not on this one. Nothing wrong for pastors to discuss the budget in order to give good advice to the government. These are not anti government people. Where in your Bible does it forbid pastors from discussing national issues?

  16. All the Police would have done is keep vigil while the meeting goes on – in case some other people disrupt it! This heavy handedness is clearly an extension of PF and Jonas paranoia. The guilty are always afraid. The more they mess up, the more their despotic actions become apparent.
    Pathetic! – as indeed is part of their party’s name.

  17. This is what the pastors prayed for on October 18th and got their prayers answered. This is what you pastors always say that Lungú was anointed by God so now when we tell you this is a dictatorship you don’t want to believe.

  18. Lusaka Times should have contacted Charity Katanga to learn and finish us with the reasons. The police know something that you commenting here do not. Rushing to judge is sign of immaturity.

  19. police can’t just disrupt a meeting without cause, there was an issue. if it was a purely a Christian meeting we would have condemned the police for the action. but the meeting was political ,pastors were used, surely men of God, y.

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