Shikapwasha is unrepentant, charges Mpundu

Shikapwasha is unrepentant, charges Mpundu
Written by Ernest Chanda
Wednesday, September 23, 2009 4:09:14 AM

LUSAKA Catholic Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu has charged that information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha is unrepentant. In an interview on Thursday, Archbishop Mpundu said the Catholic Church was expecting Lt Gen Shikapwasha or any other senior government official to apologise over his attacks on the church in his ministerial statement to Parliament last month.

“It is over one month since the Honourable Reverend Lt Gen Ronnie Shikapwasha made the infamous attack on the Catholic Church in a ministerial statement in our National Assembly on 7 August, 2009. We have been patiently waiting for someone senior to him or the highest authorities to come to the defence of the Catholic Church or at least to attempt to explain away the Hon minister's vicious and uncalled for assault on the Catholic Church but our expectations have been sadly disappointed,” Archbishop Mpundu said.

“On the contrary, what has come our way is a media report of a statement allegedly made in Kasama and attributed to the highest authorities in the land that seems to endorse or condone Shikapwasha's National Assembly indictment of the Catholic Church. With this back-up, Shikapwasha is not only unrepentant but has added salt to injury by ordering the state-controlled print media to repeat his misrepresentation in one of the editions of 23 August, 2009.”

He said Lt Gen Shikapwasha had abused his parliamentary immunity by attacking a defenceless organisation.

“Many people are very angry and not just Catholics or Christians, but a cross section of the Zambian people. Hon Rev Lt Gen Shikapwasha used or abused his elevated position and parliamentary immunity as member of parliament, Cabinet minister and chief government spokesperson to launch, during a parliamentary session, a scathing attack against the Catholic Church. I have in possession the verbatim transcript of the so-called ministerial statement and it makes distressing reading,” he said.

“ There was not a single MP [member of parliament] who raised a point of order, no voice of disapproval was recorded and the Speaker let the Hon minister rattle on to some shouts of 'hear, hear' which means approval. Surprisingly, not a single Catholic MP or MP from any Christian denomination walked out during or after the disreputable speech. I don't know if I should admire the good form, resilience and patience of our Catholic and other Christian MPs. At any rate, they showed great restraint and self-control.”

Archbishop Mpundu said Lt Gen Shikapwasha will go in history as a man who accused the Catholic Church of promoting genocide.

“Shikapwasha, who represents and speaks for the government, is unrepentant. As Minister of Information and chief government spokesman, Shikapwasha fully represents his government which, so far, has not disassociated itself from his offensive speech and appalling performance in Parliament that day,” Archbishop Mpundu said. “He and the government he represents will go down in history of this country as the man and government who accused the Catholic Church of inciting genocide basing themselves on thin air. Is this a record Ronnie Shikapwasha will really be proud of even if he seems to exhibit a pathological hatred for the Catholic Church as an institution and particularly the people whose religion it is? Is this what the people of Zambia should be made to go through? Don't the people of Zambia deserve better and more enlightened leadership?”

He said Lt Gen Shikapwasha was displaying cheap politics and religious chauvinism.

“We as Catholics disparage and denounce in no uncertain terms cheap politics of hatred and blatant religious chauvinism as exhibited by the Honourable Reverend Lt Gen Shikapwasha in his dishonourable so-called ministerial statement on MMD cadre violence against innocent and defenceless journalists. As Catholic Christians, we forgive those who hurt us, we pray for those who hate us and bless those who curse us. If Hon Rev Shikapwasha has a good memory, he certainly remembers that when his MMD party was in opposition, it regarded the Catholic Church as its champion simply because we promoted human rights, justice and peace in our nation, as we still and will always do,” said Archbishop Mpundu. “And we worked hard to ensure as free, fair and transparent an election in 1991 as we could possibly have under the circumstances of that day when we were emerging from the one party dictatorship. The then mighty UNIP [United National Independence Party] and its government was cursing and threatening us with unspecified reprisals if it won the elections and was retained as the party in power. But now, government mistakenly regards the Catholic Church as an opposition party and their enemy number one.”

On August 7, 2009 in his ministerial statement to Parliament on the violence against journalists by MMD cadres, Lt Gen Shikapwasha accused the Catholic Church of having incited the 1994 Rwanda genocide.