Maravi

Archbishop Mpundu fails to see ‘Rupiah’s pornography’

Archbishop Mpundu fails to see ‘Rupiah’s pornography’
Written by Ernest Chanda
Sunday, July 12, 2009 8:47:18 PM

LUSAKA Catholic Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu has said the pictures of a woman in labour that The Post management sent to the Vice-President and copied to him were not pornographic as suggested by President Rupiah Banda at his last press conference.

And Archbishop Mpundu has observed that there is a serious leadership crisis in the nation. In an interview in Lusaka last Thursday, Archbishop Mpundu said although shocking, the pictures of the woman in labour provoked someone into quick action on the crisis at the time.

"Personally, I have been shocked by the pictures and I would have been moved to try and find out 'why is the situation like this?' This is very, very bad! It would have been unethical, it would have been extremely in bad taste if you now started sending those photos to everyone, but you didn't do that," Archbishop Mpundu said. "I think you meant to shock and you have properly shocked me, but I wouldn't call that pornography. Pornography has got something to do not only with exposing a human being's genitals but with a view of provoking them to action, action that leads to illicit sexual satisfaction, and that is against our tradition."

Archbishop Mpundu said the government should have been moved to act and stop the strike by health workers.

"Having looked at the pictures, people will have their own right to hold their own opinion about them. To me, they are certainly shocking but I mean to regard them as pornographic I think it is an opinion that someone has and they are entitled to it. But I wouldn't regard them as pornographic. And probably your intention was to shock the authorities into action because this is a situation, which is really desperate. And as people who are in government, it is their duty to arrest the situation. I think that's what you had in mind," he said.

He observed that The Post would not be ignorant of the law regarding pornography.

"As regards pornography, I think you people are professionals in your field. And we have to be guided by legislation as to what constitutes pornography. And you would not be ignorant of that kind of legislation. I think the fact that you sent those photographs I don't think you sent all of them. Maybe only the most shocking to try and bring it to the attention of authorities for them to do something. It would be certainly in bad taste to distribute to everybody. But to people who should know and be aware that here is a situation which is desperate," Archbishop Mpundu said.

"In my opinion, it is in line because your interest was to alert the authorities, it is not to be sensational. On the other hand when you are talking of pornography, apart from the law that defines pornography we have these textbooks; even textbooks that deal with family life to help people to space their children. You have photographs that are much more graphical, photographs that show the whole process even of man and woman coming together and so on and so forth. They are for a restricted group of people who need to know. Now if you call that pornography you are entitled to that opinion, but ultimately we have to be guided by what our laws say concerning pornography."

Recently, police recorded a warn and caution statement from Post news editor Chansa Kabwela over pictures of a woman in labour that were sent to Vice-President George Kunda and copied to Archbishop Mpundu, NGO Coordinating Council, Women for Change, Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja and health minister Kapembwa Simbao. This action by police came in the wake of President Banda's order at a press conference for the arrest of the person who took the pictures during the protracted strike by health workers in the country, describing them as pornographic.

Archbishop Mpundu observed that there were a lot of double standards on the part of government.

"But also you have to look at some of the standards, the double standards in this country. There are certain things which are allowed to happen, which are tolerated. I don't condemn people going to see dances going to see shows, but some of those shows are very suggestive. Some of those dances are very suggestive," he observed. "I don't want to mention any particular dance or any particular artiste or group of artistes. From time to time we have those that come from neighbouring countries where our women are almost undressed. But this is allowed to happen and nobody seems to have any sort of aversion to that. Our standards sometimes seem to be varying depending on who was looking at them. I think we have to be very consequent, we have to be logical."

Asked what government should have done after receiving the pictures and the letter from The Post, Archbishop Mpundu said the government should have been moved to act immediately.

"The main issue at stake was, here is a situation that needs to be addressed and addressed urgently in order to minimise or to eliminate the deaths that are happening. Address that issue aggressively, robustly to bring an end to such deaths," Archbishop Mpundu said. "So, that is what ought to have been done, that's what everyone expected. Government is there to look after the interest of the people and when you have a situation like that instead of being digressed by emotions they should have acted positively. The press conference in a way was somehow marred by this digression."

And Archbishop Mpundu observed that the crisis in the country had been evidenced by rampant corruption and intolerance for opposing views.

"Zambia needs a serious moral rearmament that will bring a sense of honesty and decency. We have seen politics of benefit and this will not inspire Zambians to have confidence in their leadership. We really need a moral rearmament that will tell us that we owe each other a descent existence. We must develop in us a sense of responsibility," Archbishop Mpundu said. "What we need is a leadership that will galvanise the giftedness of the Zambian people; their willingness to be democratic, a leadership that will look at issues that are retarding development and a leadership that will tackle corruption as endemic."

He noted that the nation had a leadership structure that had taken corruption for granted.

"At the time of the last by-election, Presidential by-election, the ruling party as a campaign strategy came up with a legacy; the legacy of President Mwanawasa. What legacy, some of us have been asking? Because here is a structure, here is a society; here is a political culture that has simply taken corruption for granted, as a way of doing things. And who is suffering? It's the ordinary people, you and me," Archbishop Mpundu said. "And we need a leadership that will be credible, a leadership that will be robust, a leadership with a vision so that we tackle the very, very big obstacles to development. A leadership that can reduce corruption, at least reduce it. We are not saying that corruption is the exclusive preserve for Zambians, but we have to bring in a system and structure that will make it clear that those who are wrong doers will be caught and they will be prosecuted and then be made to pay."

Archbishop Mpundu observed that corruption in the country had matured to unpredictable levels.

"Corruption started in the second Republic, because there it was so institutionalised that nobody saw it, it paid to belong to UNIP [United National Independence Party]. We had a ministry called ministry of national guidance. And that ministry of national guidance had a member of the central committee, a cabinet minister, minister of state and a team of 15 district governors without any district at all, but they were on the payroll," he said. "That was part of the system and nobody saw anything wrong with it. In MMD we had a new spirit but old wineskins, so the thing [corruption] became even more outstanding. So what we need is a leadership that galvanises people into a direction of national development. Corruption is endemic, it is a cancer, it has affected everybody."

He advised opposition political parties to be serious since the public looked up to them to provide an alternative.

"Political parties in my view, this time I go to opposition parties; they should be a government in waiting. And if they are a government in waiting they should show the general public that they have the credentials, democratic credentials. That means the selection of leadership is done transparently and democratically from the grassroots right up to the top. Call for a convention or whatever structure has been put in place by a particular political party," said Archbishop Mpundu. "It has to be seen to go from the grassroots. It is not uncommon to see undemocratic tendencies in opposition political parties. These are the people who tomorrow should be in government. They are a government in waiting and the people would be very happy to see them [political parties] being very democratic, meaning whatever they do should be very transparent.

Now we have the ruling party we do not know what is going on, what we are seeing are public pronouncements that do not auger well for its unity."

Labels: RUPIAH BANDA, TELESPHORE MPUNDU, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 7:49 PM