Rev Matale urges church to speak out for the poor

Rev Matale urges church to speak out for the poor
Written by Sututu Katundu
Thursday, October 15, 2009 6:27:23 PM

COUNCIL of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) general secretary Reverend Suzanne Matale has urged the church to stand up and speak out for the poor. During a post budget seminar in Lusaka, Rev. Matale urged the church to advise the government to allocate adequate resources to social sectors such as education and health.

Finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane on Friday presented a K16.7 trillion budget to Parliament which, among other issues, proposed a 25.3 per cent reduction in allocation to the health sector to K1.362 trillion compared with K1.823 trillion allocated in the 2009 budget.

“The church needs to be alive to such issues, but it is sad that little has been allocated to social protection as we are all equal in the eyes of God,” Rev. Matale said.

“The church should stand up for what is right because we are people of faith which is about believing that things can be done with the power of the Holy Ghost, we should be bold and not intimidated.”

She has also said there is need to monitor and evaluate issues in the budget before and after to see whether it is being implemented and achieved.

And Rev. Matale urged the church to support calls for the amendment of the Freedom of Information Bill saying it should not be left to the media alone.

“It is important to advocate for the Freedom of Information Bill. It is incumbent upon us to be alive to these issues; we need to rise up because it’s our information, our right. Government should enact the law so that the media can access information and inform us,” said Rev. Matale.