PRESIDENT Sata and his wife Christine Kaseba were yesterday among hundreds of people who attended the inter-enominational thanksgiving church service for the 48th Independence anniversary at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

Delivering a sermon at the service, Zambia Episcopal Conference Secretary-General Father Cleophas Lungu challenged leaders to deliver on their promises.

Father Lungu said the 48th Independence anniversary is an opportunity for leaders and all Zambians to reflect on which direction the country must take.

He said Zambia can be transformed into a country where all citizens can have access to basic needs.

“The past 48 years have been a time of nation building where all the 73 tribes have lived in harmony, in line with that uniting motto by our founding fathers, One Zambia One Nation. Let us have a clear evaluation as a nation on which direction we are taking. Zambians are waiting for leaders of integrity to deliver on their promises,” Father Lungu said.
Fr. Lungu also challenged Zambians to work hard and complement the efforts of government, as opposed to entirely waiting for government to improve their lives.

And Fr. Lungu has called on government to create an environment that will protect women from gender-based violence.
He cited the gruesome murder of 19-year-old National Institute of Public Administration student Ruth Mbandu, as one of the worst violent killings the country has ever experienced, which must not happen again.

Fr. Lungu said people must not be subjected to gruesome murders and should be allowed to go about their lives freely, with a sense of security because Zambia is an independent country.

He said there is need for Christians to pray for a “spirit of restraint” to overshadow perpetrators of gender-based violence.

And Seventh Day Adventist Zambia chapter president Max Muvwimi said President Sata has proved to be a God-fearing leader, as evidenced by his attendance of mass at a Catholic Parish in Japan where he had gone on a working visit recently.

Reverend Muvwimi said Zambians must emulate President Sata and take time off their schedule to worship God.

He said Zambians must unite and work hard to realise the country’s vision of prosperity.

“God has given us brains to achieve a lot. Let us not always wait for leaders to do things for us,” Rev. Muvwimi said.

Earlier, President Sata led the faithful in observing a moment of silence in honour of Mama Betty Kaunda whose widower, first republican president Kenneth Kaunda, was present.

President Sata later read a Bible passage (Luke 4:16-22) while representatives from church mother bodies also took turns to read the Bible.

Choirs drawn from various churches, including the combined defence forces choir, also took turns to sing hymns at the occasion.

Among the notables at the prayer event were former first ladies Vera Chiluba and Maureen Mwanawasa, cabinet ministers, service chiefs, National Restoration Party president Elias Chipimo and deputy speaker of the National Assembly Mkhondo Lungu.

Mr Chipimo was the only opposition party leader present while others were conspicuously absent.

Meanwhile, Dr Kaunda who walked hand in hand with President Sata after the mass, danced to a song by the Patriotic Front women’s choir and cheered many people who marvelled at the dance moves of the 88-year-old former head of State.

This was the first public appearance Dr Kaunda has made since the burial of his wife who died on September 19.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

The Patriotic Front(PF) Campaign manager for the Mufumbwe by-elections Jean Kapata has refuted all allegations leveled against the party by MMD.

Ms Kapata has told the media that MMD are merely scared by the clean and issue based campaign the PF is conducting in Mufumbwe. She also accused the MMD of having failed to develop Mufumbwe twenty years after it was declared a district.

MMD has accused the Patriotic Front (PF) of fueling violent activities in Mufumbwe prior to the by-election slated for November 8, 2012.

MMD Chairman for Local Government and Housing, Newton Samakayi said his party was aware of a scheme by the PF of importing about 250 youths from Lusaka to Mufumbwe to cause more confusion.

Mr Samakayi told journalists at a press briefing at the MMD secretariat in Lusaka yesterday that his party had information that the PF was printing MMD and United Party for National Development (UPND) campaign materials in Matero which it intended to use in its violent activities in Mufumbwe.

He said “PF intends to wear MMD and UPND chitenge materials and t-shirts so that they go in villages intimidating and beating people as they did in Livingstone and claim that it is the MMD.”

He said what the PF should know was that they would not have it easy because the people of Mufumbwe were aware of the primitive tactics of the PF.

He said his party’s campaign in the area had heightened as their campaigns were issue based with reference to a success history of sustainable development policies in all sectors of the economy during the MMD reign.

“He appealed to North Western police Commissioner Eugene Sibote to be proactive in dealing with the violence in Mufumbwe saying if he continued with the lukewarm approach the situation may get worse.

He said it was disheartening to hear Mr Sibote describing the campaigns so far as being peaceful when MMD vice President Michael Kaingu was attacked as well as a Mr Wisamba who was currently admitted to hospital.

He said if MMD and UPND had reacted to the provocation of the PF, Mufumbwe would have been on fire by now.

But PF campaign manager in the area Jean Kapata rubbished the accusations and allegations from the MMD saying the former ruling party was just scared of losing the polls.

She said the PF was engaged in issued based campaigns because it was a serious party which had no time for such talk from the MMD.

By Rev Kapya Kaoma

On Tuesday, August 28, Archbishop Desmond Tutu declined an invitation to share the same platform with former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair at the “Discovery Invest Leadership Summit” in Johannesburg, South Africa. Tutu objected that Blair’s “morally indefensible” decision to attack Iraq made it awkward for him to share the same platform with him. At first, I found such a response very far-reaching. Afterwards, I realized that Tutu’s position is an invitation to hold politicians accountable for their immoral actions and decisions while in office.

But Tutu’s statement also left me wondering about the relationship between the Church and politics in Zambia. Most Christians are apt to argue that the Church should be apolitical. Religious leaders, they insist, should be concerned with sending people to heaven; it is politicians who must worry about what people eat on earth. After all, politics is a dirty game, which religious ministers should avoid at all costs. But as the Iraq war has shown, political actions have severe consequences: they can build or destroy the nation.

Nobody doubts the dirtiness of politics especially when left unchecked. Yet, it is this filthy game that determines who eats, goes to school and even get medical attention. Equally important is the fact that politics is the key that separates economic prosperity from perpetual poverty, and justice from injustice. Love it or not, politics affects people’s lives. To allow politicians to operate without any checks and balances is like asking starved lions to guard the innocent lambs.

Knowingly or unwittingly, the Church has been instrumental in changing governments in Zambia. UNIP, MMD and now PF worked closely with the Church to get to power. Sadly, the moment these parties got power, they either worked to bribe the Church into ultimate silence or side-lined those religious leaders who refused to be bought. President Chiluba’s relationship with Fr. Umberto, the famous former editor of the Catholic Magazine Icengelo is a good example. At the time when everyone was afraid of Kaunda’s UNIP regime and the print media was highly controlled, Umberto managed to publish articles that presented Chiluba as the “man” strong enough to oppose super Ken. No sooner did Chiluba get to State house than he dismissed Umberto’s voice. Chiluba surrounded himself with pastors who saw him as a “Man of God” sent to liberate Zambia from the demons of UNIP; thus infallible in all his decisions and policies. The Roman Catholic Church and Fr. Frank Bwalya’s relationship with the PF government seem to follow this pattern as well.
[pullquote]Injustice is like a tree; it grows with time. We watch it grow and only want to cut when it has matured.Church leaders should not pretend to be non-partisan when it comes to poverty and injustice in the nation.[/pullquote]

In Zambia, it pays to support the ruling party; after all, the president is the bank of endless cash. Usually, brown envelopes accompany presidential or political officials’ visits to local Churches, making such visits income generating ventures. No wonder, we, the religious leaders are the last ones to stand up against bad governance by government officials. Yet we should remember that injustice is like a tree; it grows with time. We watch it grow and only want to cut when it has matured. Imagine the resources and the lives we would have saved if we cut it when it was still small. Do we really need another 4 more years to see that the PF government has departed from its democratic obligations and promises it made in 2011? Is the continuous harassment of Hakainde Hichilema’s UPND party really justified? Why is the Church so silent on these issues?

It is God’s people who voted PF in power and their voices should be heard in all matters of governance. For politician to ignore the plight of the masses while giving themselves billions of Kwachas is absurd. The PF government knows the root causes of Zambia’s social and economic dire straits. When he was in opposition, President Sata repeatedly cited political greed and corruption as behind Zambia’s growing poverty. Despondently, this political gluttonous situation is increasing under the PF government and the Church is busy watching!

Let me put it this way: Church leaders should not pretend to be non-partisan when it comes to poverty and injustice in the nation. Politicians are stealing from God’s people; the cries and tears of the poor are visible to those who have eyes to see. That child going to bed without food, dying because the hospital has no drugs, denied a place to join the army because s/he has no money to bribe the officers and even arrested for supporting the opposition party is a lovely child of God. Demanding the rights of such a person is within the framework of the ministry of the Church.

I fully understand that the bible calls us to pray for those in authority. However, I wonder how many Christians will close their eyes and pray when a criminal is breaking into their brother’s house. I guess the first reaction is to fight the “thief” before thanking God for defending our brother/sister’s property. As sister’s and brother’s keepers, the Church has a spiritual mandate to defend the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters – the poor and the oppressed. Sadly in Africa, the prophetic voice of Nigerian legendary musician Fela Kuti in “Coffin for Head of State” still echoes true; behind that corrupt African dictator, politician or business executive, there is a respectable Christian bishop or Muslim Imam. How I wish our bishops can emulate Desmond Tutu for once!