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Free and fair elections are possible in Zambia, says Bishop Lungu

Free and fair elections are possible in Zambia, says Bishop Lungu
By Christopher Miti in Chipata and Mwala Kalaluka in Lusaka
Sun 28 Feb. 2010, 04:30 CAT

ZAMBIA Episcopal Conference (ZEC) president Bishop George Lungu last Friday said free and fair elections are possible in Zambia.

During his official closing address at the Caritas Chipata launch of the voter education programme at Pine View Guest House, Bishop Lungu said the Church was convinced that free and fair elections were possible.

"People admire us in Zambia for one thing, peace. A number of countries have had problems emanating from issues of elections, governance, development issues and so forth. But in Zambia, we have until now, enjoyed relative peace,” Bishop Lungu said. “And I believe it is important to sustain this peace.

And we the Bishops are convinced that if the issues that we have raised in the pastoral letters are not addressed adequately, it will be very difficult indeed to sustain that peace" Bishop Lungu said Zambians were looking for positive change.

"Our people are looking for change, and positive change for that matter. They would like to see development in their lives, they would like to participate constructively to development programmes that affect our families and their personal lives,” Bishop Lungu said.

“But then they have to see the connection between a vote and peace, the connection between the vote and development. If people come to us and say mutipatse chiyani what are you going to give us? Let’s interpret that as a message to all of us that we do need to see change.

It is part of this exercise of what we call voting. We go to polls but we still don't change at all. What is it that we are lacking in our system that will ensure that we are able to see development because of the fact that we lined up for voting."

Bishop Lungu said the launch of the voter education programme was the right step in the right direction.
"I think this in some way is capable of making a difference when it comes to ensure that we have raised issues, cut off insults, voter apathy and issues that have been raised in the pastoral letter, we can make a difference.

We can give a good example of what it is supposed to be when it comes to elections; our prayer is that we are all going to collaborate in this very important exercise in order for us to have positive results at the end of the day," Bishop Lungu said.

"We are all looking for development. We would like to enjoy peace and I am pretty sure we would like to see that Zambia becomes an example of what it means in terms of good governance."

Caritas Chipata director Father Richard Chiyanjano Phiri said in one of the important meetings that ZEC had last year, it was resolved that Caritas Zambia should in a "special way" participate in the 2011 tripartite elections.

"As this task was given to us, we as Caritas were privileged… In Malawi the Catholic Commission for Justice team participated in the Malawi's general elections of last year.

Going by the process there and lessons learnt, there is already a programme underway that Caritas Zambia is making and as Caritas Chipata we shall be participating in line with the mandate given to us by the Bishops of Zambia," Fr Phiri said.

He said Caritas Chipata’s plan was to have monitors at each polling station in Eastern Province.
Fr Phiri said the launch of the programme could not be said to have been done early going by the amount of work that Caritas has.

Later, Caritas governanance programmes officer Mthanziko Zulu read the bishops concerns on elections and other related matters raised in 2008.

And Mongu Diocese Bishop Paul Duffy has said the electorate in the country’s dioceses would be sensitised to vote for honesty leaders in 2011 and not people that were just interested in fattening their pockets.

Explaining the role that the Catholic Commission for Justice, Development and Peace (CCJDP) would play ahead of the 2011 elections, Bishop Duffy said the church’s faithful would not be told who to vote.

“We will not tell them who to vote for but the CCJDP in the 10 dioceses will sensitise them to vote for honest leaders and not people that are just interested in fattening their pockets,” Bishop Duffy said.

Bishop Duffy complained over the erratic power supply in Mongu town, which he said was affecting the people’s living situation.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, ELECTIONS, GEORGE LUNGU

posted by MrK @ 6:04 PM