Friday, March 29, 2024

Partisan Church Leaders Cannot Preside Over Impartial Dialogue Process-Ndoyi

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Outspoken young politician Prince Ndoyi has accused the leaders of the three Church Mother Bodies (CMBs) of driving an opposition agenda after their action to go ahead with a consultative meeting snubbed by ZCID last week.

Ndoyi said the consultative meeting held by the CMBs was not a dialogue meeting with political party presidents but that it was a meeting with UPND president Hakainde Hichilema and his surrogates in the 10 alliance partners under the disguise of dialogue.

The former ZANASU vice president who is now MMD youth, has since described the bishops’ action as “promoting polarisation and partisan politics” which he said is effectively poisoning the political environment and creating confusion instead of harmony.

“Thursday’s events where the three Church Mother Bodies and ZCID gave conflicting statements is untimely seeing that we are in the festive season and unfortunate. Suffice to say no one single member of the joint secretariat had ‘VETO POWER’ to bulldoze their way against the collective, and that’s what we have been subjected to, a dialogue meeting between the Church and UPND.

“To say this was strange could probably be an understatement, because the church is generally believed to be sacred spaces, free from any whiff of partisan politics. This action in actual fact is promoting polarisation and partisan politics — thus effectively, further poisoning the political environment,” he said.

Ndoyi explained that the true conversation the country should be having about dialogue should not emanate from partisan trenches.

He said the church leaders should rise above board and ensure that they are not seen to be taking sides as they perform their role of chairmanship in the dialogue process.

He said by going ahead with the meeting the CMB leaders had potentially dragged the name of the honorable Church into narrow partisan politics.

“The danger of their action to go ahead with today’s meeting without PF, MMD, FDD among others ZCID members is that it has the potential to drag the honorable sacred Church into narrow partisan trenches.

He said the Church leaders had shot themselves in the foot thereby putting themselves in the firing range and their action will soon attract criticisms from stakeholders.

“Sometimes criticism aimed at the church is unfair and unwarranted. But other times they absolutely deserve the criticism that comes their way. And, of course, the church will inevitably run into criticism for shooting themselves in the foot,” he said.

He urged the CMB leaders to emulate the Church leaders of the 1990s and ensure that they provide not only leadership but direction to the nation.

He said the CMBs should not be a mouth piece for any political party but a mouth piece for Zambians be it in opposition or ruling as speaking for a political party takes away their sacred role of being the salt of the nation.

“When the church becomes a mouthpiece for a political party, it ceases to be the church. Their job is to share the Gospel, and offer counsel and not to change the government.

“The church needs leaders who are truly free, not beholden to a party platform or partisan agenda. In other words: we need to be free from partisanship in order to be faithfully political.

“Finally, this is a clarion call on the various church leaders not to throw this word of caution to the wind and explicitly appear to endorse a partisan agenda in view of the ongoing dialogue process, for them to be trusted and respected as they have always been. Because, Zambia today desperately needs a consistent christian ethic on this national political dialogue process to help with reforms and help reconcile the nation with itself ahead of 2021 and into the future,” he said.

The dialogue process seems to have hit a snug as there appears to be a stand off between the CMBs leaders and ZCID.

On Thursday ZCID wrote to the media postponing the consultative meeting with presidents of political parties but hours later another communique this time from the CMB leaders hit the air waves confirming the meeting.

On Friday UPND president Hakainde Hichilema was among political party leaders who attended the consultative meeting which was snubbed by President Lungu and members of ZCID.

22 COMMENTS

    • These Christians for lungu never cease to amaze me, why are they so anti Church mother bodies? Let them tell the nation if they have formed another church overseering body. For a long time pf cadres were saying this dialogue is not between hh and ecl only, when the church manages to bring other political parties on board, and after pf deliberately decided to abscond at the first meeting, and expected failure. Realising that the meeting went on smoothly minus them, they start talking about anarch, now this from this boy with links to the mutation mmd faction which was also loudly absent.

    • Ndoyi you should spend a month in Syria, Afghanistan, Somali and Sudan. By the time you come back you will give away all the monies you are collecting.

  1. Ndoyi, you are loosing it. PF politics is becoming toxic and this is not good. They can not be dogging the dialogue for eternity. if they do not need it, let them say so. Actions are louder than words. And PF has been full of beautiful words on this subject. Do not blame the Bishops. PF has been caught pants down. They are not for dialogue, kwasila.

  2. Its a pity young minds that are supposed to be foward thinking and impartial in their analysis are being used by heartless and selfish politicians.
    Its always difficult to come out of university and stay 4 plus years with no Job, young men and women like Prince and Antonio are now being used by powerful politicians for crumbs.You can see and feel the brilliance but its all missplaced.
    This is indeed robbing the country of the next batch of leaders. We are witnessing a trend the world over of people as young as 40 becoming Presidents but with such lark of objectivity we will continue having wasted individuals in positions of leadership.

  3. Young man just embrace the dialogue process. What you’re trying to do is descredit the CMB so then you get the outcome you desire. STOP being selfish, the bigger picture is that this will in all likelihood benefit majority of citizens.

  4. Ndoyi, how dare you discredit the three mother bodies? You would rather have people that can be paid? No dialogue is needed in our country right now and it needs people that cannot be bought to preside over this. The fact that PF members are afraid to allow the president attend the dialogue says much more than words. It is flies like you paid cadres that is causing problems in the country. butt out and leave dialogue to presidents of partys and the church.

  5. Commonwealth not good church’s not good what is good for you chindoyi son of a davi? I’m sure you are being advised by people who eat grasshopper (ghost). your aim is to see Zambian to go on fire.only a foreigner can come up with that rotten words.let me end here.

  6. Mr ndoyi
    Its a pity young minds like you that are supposed to be foward thinking and impartial in their analysis are being used by heartless and selfish politicians.
    Its always difficult to come out of university and stay 4 plus years with no Job, young men and women like Prince and Antonio are now being used by powerful politicians for crumbs.You can see and feel the brilliance but its all missplaced.
    This is indeed robbing the country of the next batch of leaders. We are witnessing a trend the world over of people as young as 40 becoming Presidents but with such lark of objectivity we will continue having wasted individuals in positions of leadership.

  7. There is something very wrong with an African,so this person is probably saying this so that he chews something on new year’s day,even his children’s future is not important

  8. State house through office of the PRESIDENT was communicated to. Only the ZCID members were NOT communicated to,HH and his imperialists influences is bringing CONFUSION in the running of the country.

  9. Ndoyi stop cursing yourself over pieces of silver. The church mother bodies are credible and will be impartial. If Lungu has any decency and not morally corrupt, he would have sent one of the top PF leadership. An election on CB to be more important than the sum of peace and traquility that you Ndoyi is enjoying. They can pay you to insult the church but remember if the church was started by a man can be destroyed but if it’s the almight God will stay. Govts from the biblical times that disrespected the church or prophets of God crumbled and never enjoyed the blessings of God as God chosen leaders. The Catholic church will not for sure involve her self if there is evidence to suggest, the social justice and fairness is not there. The church as a long outstanding history of bringing…

  10. Rhapsody, HH will not have the monopoly on this dialogue. Peace is one of the most precious commodity to have in any country. HH one day will not be there and same people will question whether he did the right thing to keep quite as an opposition party leader just the same Americans started saying where is Obama when trump caused more and more unspeakable horrors in the name of the campaign promises.

  11. Ofcourse the 3 CMBs are biased. That’s why the Telesphores of this world are found at party anniversary events. You are spot on Ndoyi. The bitter opposition is using the minority Catholics to disenfranchise a body mandated to handle the dialogue. upnd has been chairing the ZCID for the last 7 years and how has it become comprised today??? These Catholics are on record for causing civil strife as is the case in the Rwandan genocide no wonder Telesphore was sorted by the Vatican.

  12. pf cadres be reminded that there were more than ten other political parties involved who were present there do want cheat that all of them were made to go there by upnd or the church mother body . be wise and come to your senses people are no longer interested in your lies. if you think your prophet amataa is going to make rule this country by rigging then you are cheating yourselves.

  13. Who is this thing called Ndoyi insulting the church for the purpose of his belly? What a hell is he advancing evil schemes on behalf of his masters?

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