Maravi

‘The guilty are afraid’

‘The guilty are afraid’
By The Post
Fri 19 Mar. 2010, 04:00 CAT

IT is difficult to understand why anyone should sneer at Caritas Zambia’s decision to participate in monitoring elections in our country.

Caritas Zambia is a Catholic Church faith-based organisation. And the Church has both the right and duty to participate fully in building a just and peaceful society with all the means at its disposal.

It is important to maintain and strengthen democratic structures if we are to enjoy a peaceful and developing future. And the question we should be asking ourselves is: what can our Church do to promote good formation of its members for participation is the development of our community?

The presence of faith-based organisations in the social life is characterised by service, the sign and expression of love. And Christians are to be prepared for political, economic and social tasks through a solid formation in the Church’s social doctrine. In this way they can infuse a Christian spirit into the mentality, customs, laws and structures of the community in which they live. We are told in Acts 1:8: “You shall be my witness… to the ends of the earth.”

The participation of Christians in political life is to be guided by the gospel values of respect for human dignity, human rights, common good, social justice, solidarity, integral development, special concern for the poor and non-violence in resolving conflicts.

The presence of Caritas Zambia among election monitors in our country can bring gospel values to our electoral process and indeed to our whole political process. As Pope John Paul once observed, “A faith and a life which is authentically Christian cannot fail to blossom in a love which constitutes truth and promotes justice.” This is so because true faith touches our beliefs, feelings and actions, our head, heart and hand. And there is need, in our daily lives, to link faith and justice.

The right to vote carries with it the corresponding duty: the duty to vote. Voter apathy is incompatible with one’s duty as a citizen and as a Christian. The coming in of Caritas Zambia with its election 2011 strategy will help to remind our people that voting is not only their right, but their duty.

If they withhold their vote, Zambians run a risk of putting into public offices people who have no national interest at heart and who are going to jeopardise the future of their children. Caritas Zambia will help our people to exercise their right and take up their Christian duty.

They will urge them to go, register and vote for the right persons; people of integrity regardless of the region they come from, their tribe, language, political or even religious affiliation. They will teach our people that Zambia needs patriotic leaders; people who place national interest before personal ambitions.

What is wrong with the Catholic Church, through Caritas Zambia, going round telling all Christians who have reached voting age to register and participate in electing leaders who have the necessary qualities?

It should be understood that the neglect of participating in the voting and in the election of good leaders allows unworthy candidates to take leadership positions and bring disharmony in our country. Our political responsibility is not limited to voting and electing leaders but also to pray for them, respect and assist them and when necessary, criticise them.

Today the vote is a serious duty. And this imperative duty must be fulfilled carefully and our people should be helped in any way possible so that they can choose wisely people who will take the direction of civil affairs.

Whether our country will have good or bad laws, an upright or inefficient administration depends on the voters. If this is the case, what is wrong with Caritas Zambia coming in to assist our voters fulfil their duty and exercise their right to vote efficiently and intelligently? Citizens who do not care for their duty of voting are an easy prey to tyranny.

And tyrannical regimes are always not happy when citizens want to take their right and duty to vote seriously and intelligently. Why? This is because by doing so they cease to be an easy prey to tyranny.

What Caritas Zambia teaches is not hatred for members and leaders of a certain political party, even if that party doesn’t like them or is opposed to their work. What Caritas Zambia teaches our people is that they have rights and duties as citizens, nay more, as Catholic citizens, and that the love of their country urges them to act accordingly in all justice and charity.

And that free, fair and constructive elections would translate into a reality when the voters take their responsibility seriously. What wrong can one find with an organisation that is doing this sort of work?

Caritas Zambia, and the Catholic Church in general are conscious of the crucial role which each individual citizens should play in choosing the leaders who will create the Zambia we want to live in.

And for this reason, they want to offer their own intervention, not to support or discredit any political party, but to bring the light of the gospel into our decisions and to allow God to “lead us beside still waters and restore our souls”.

As a faith-based organisation, Caritas Zambia has joined election monitoring in our country to try and ensure that our people use their votes for the good of Zambia, as opposed to the good of a particular party, group or individual; vote for the candidates who have proved themselves accountable to God and to the electorate, for the common good; choose representatives who are courageous in defending truth and justice for all, who are completely honest in fulfilling public and private responsibilities; use their votes to make sure that the right candidates are elected because not to vote may mean the wrong candidates being elected; vote according to their conscience, in accordance with the highest human values without allowing themselves to be pressured or dictated to by “godfathers”, by bribes, threats and self-interests, and so on and so forth.

And for free, fair and peaceful elections to take place, certain conditions must prevail in our country and in our hearts. Caritas Zambia is coming in to aid us in achieving these conditions. There ought to be a conducive atmosphere. But this won’t come by itself. We have to work to realise it.

And this is where Caritas Zambia comes in. What is wrong with Caritas Zambia coming in to help ensure that the major players agree on the conditions under which elections would be held and ensure that the contestants conduct themselves in a manner that does not put others to an unfair disadvantage? What is wrong with Caritas Zambia coming in to help ensure that there is transparency in the organisation of our elections?

In the light of all these necessary conditions, it is difficult to understand why those in the ruling party and its government should be so hostile to Caritas Zambia’s generous gesture when it is the duty of the ruling party and the government, as facilitators of elections, to ensure that the concerns of all key players are adequately addressed.

Good elections require intelligent and responsible participation of all voters. Our vote can help eliminate the unworthy and improve the governance of our country.

Let Caritas Zambia and other organisations of goodwill help us use our vote wisely and bravely. Our vote is a powerful weapon for unity, an instrument of liberty, justice and peace. On our voting, on the quality of it, the discernment behind it, depend the progress and peace of our country.

Caritas Zambia is coming in to help ensure the integrity of our electoral process because rigging, bribery and other electoral irregularities are a violation of the rights of voters.

In casting one’s vote, a citizen should never be swayed by personal profit, religious or regional bias, but solely by consideration of which of the conflicting issues or candidates is better for the nation and the good they can do.

Caritas Zambia is coming in to help ensure that campaigns are carried out in a peaceful and honest way, devoid of any violence and slander of other opponents. All citizens must be guided by the truth, integrity and justice which are anchored on God’s commandments.

Caritas Zambia is coming in to remind us that elections are for the good of people and the country, and not for political survival of any individual or party. And that the quality of democracy is determined by the establishment of proper structures which facilitate freedom of thought, expression and association.

As we approach next year’s elections, and even the parliamentary and local government by-elections that we’ll soon hold, we must express concern regarding the frequent instances of intolerance, intimidation and lust for power. There is urgent need for understanding, dialogue and reconciliation.

These are the things, the issues, the concerns Caritas Zambia is coming in to try and help us address. This being the case, why should anyone sneer at them, be worried about their participation in election monitoring? Only evil-minded people can fear Caritas Zambia’s participation in election monitoring and discourage them from concretising their Election 2011 Strategy. Only the guilty, the crooks, the unscrupulous can be afraid of Caritas Zambia’s work in monitoring elections.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, CARITAS

posted by MrK @ 2:16 PM