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Abuse of office will breed anarchy - Bishop Mchombo

Abuse of office will breed anarchy - Bishop Mchombo
By Mutale Kapekele and Agnes Changala
Thu 28 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda must not assent to the ACC Act because it will breed anarchy in the country, Zambia Anglican Council (ZAC) presiding Bishop William Mchombo has advised.

Addressing journalists on the centenary celebration of the Anglican Church’s existence in Zambia at Lusaka’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross yesterday, Bishop Mchombo said it was unfortunate that Parliament decided to remove the abuse of office clause from the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Act.

“It is unfortunate that the clause on the abuse of office should be removed. I would like to appeal to the President not to sign the Bill,” Bishop Mchombo said. “A bad law does not offer justice to the nation. He President Banda would save this nation from a bad law that does not serve the nation. In the absence of section 37 clause of the current ACC Act plundering of resources will be free for all.

That law is there to protect our resources which will not be possible in the absence of this law and that will be detrimental to the fight against poverty.”

He said only those with access to higher offices would get rich while the poor would continue wallowing in poverty.

“We need to strengthen laws that protect our resources and everybody should respect that otherwise we shall create anarchy,” he said.

Bishop Mchombo said poverty was the biggest challenge that the country was facing and it could increase in a situation where national resources were plundered.

“It poverty dehumanizes the human being, de-empowers if one has no means of survival,” he said. “The gospel challenges us to be good neighbors, our brothers’ keepers. That could happen if we were less selfish. Poverty increases because of greed. 80 per cent of food produced globally goes to 20 per cent of the world’s population. We the church shall continue standing in for advocacy to make sure that everybody has food on the table and to make sure that sharing of resources is equitable so that we all have something sufficient.”

And Bishop Mchombo said violence during elections should be discouraged because it promoted voter apathy.

“In Chilanga by-elections, there was violence and the elections were marred with apathy, so in that case you may even question the legitimacy of the one elected as member of Parliament,” Bishop Mchombo said.

He said the Anglican Church was against all forms of violence.

Bishop Mchombo said violence should not be allowed to take centre stage whenever elections were held or where there were political gatherings.

He appealed to political players to “tame” their cadres and ensure peaceful elections and campaigns are held.

“As Zambia, we stand on a beacon of peace and we need to act and not just talk if we are to end the violence,” Bishop Mchombo said.

He also asked politicians to refrain from using provocative statements, saying they contributed to violence.

Bishop Mchombo observed that poverty and high unemployment levels caused several youths to involve themselves in violent activities.

He said people should be careful and avoid unnecessary violence because children and the women were the ones who suffered most in such situations.

Bishop Mchombo said the Anglican Church would continue to take part in politics but in a non-partisan way.

He said it was the duty of every Zambian to take part in politics because it touched on issues of governance and social issues.

“As Anglican Church, we will continue to participate in politics, we will not shun because that is our mandate to participate in governance and other social issues,” said Bishop Mchombo.

Next Sunday, the Anglican Church will host senior members of their sister churches from America, Europe and some African countries.

Labels: ACC, BISHOP MCHOMBO, POLITICAL VIOLENCE

posted by MrK @ 6:52 PM