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Vote for leaders with integrity, Church urges Zambians

Vote for leaders with integrity, Church urges Zambians
By Bright Mukwasa
Sat 30 July 2011, 14:00 CAT

THE Church has urged Zambians to vote for leaders with demonstrated integrity, concern for social justice and courage to speak the truth.

And the Church says the stand the Electoral Commission of Zambia has taken on the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) has not helped to improve the image of the institution as being an independent body that is free from manipulation.

In a joint pastoral letter on this year’s general election released yesterday at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Lusaka, the three church mother bodies said Christians should realise that they had a moral responsibility to vote for candidates who followed the example of Jesus Christ.

The letter signed by Reverend Moses Mwale, president of the Council of Churches in Zambia, Bishop Joseph Imakando, board chairman for the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia and Reverend Ignatius Chama, president of the Zambia Episcopal Conference, is entitled; ‘A call to vote in peace, truth and justice’.

“We must vote for those who present clear and convincing political, economic and social programmes that have a greater chance of reducing poverty and human degradation in our society,” the letter stated.

“Those who have shown good performance and integrity when they served in public office; those with demonstrated integrity, concern for social justice and courage to speak the truth and those who show genuine desire to work for common good and use power for service, especially of the poor and under privileged,” it stated.

The letter stated that Christians should consider voting for leaders that were open to dialogue and were of good moral standing, transparent and accountable to the electorate.

It stated that people should avoid voting for politicians that had tendencies of self-serving and had potential to use power for self-enrichment.

The Church stated that those who were arrogant and had no time to listen to the electorate and were of questionable moral standing, including those with proven records of corruption and abuse of power and public resources, those with propensity to use violence and those who put narrow sectarian or ethnic interest before national interest and the common good, must not be voted for.

The Church urged all Zambians to realise that voting was one of their fundamental rights, duties and also a Christian duty as it provided the means for which citizens peacefully and freely chose their leaders.

“We thus pray that all citizens enter the 2011 elections with a spirit of honesty, avoiding bribes and cheating. We also pray that all voters, political party leaders and their cadres may have at heart, to build for peace and avoid all forms of violence. As St Paul exhorts us,’ Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody (Romans 12:18’,” it stated.

And the Church also stated that there was enough time for all parties to reach an amicable solution regarding the parallel vote tabulation.

“The recent debate on the parallel vote tabulation and the stand the Electoral Commission of Zambia took has not helped to improve the image of the ECZ in the eyes of the public with respect to being an independent body that is free from manipulation,” it stated.

“We call upon all stakeholders to engage in a genuine process of dialogue in order to reach a consensus over this important issue. The ECZ also needs to work closely with other relevant actors to ensure adherence to the Electoral Code of Conduct by all during the 2011 elections. In most of our elections, the code of conduct has been observed more in breach than compliance,” stated the church.

“Monitors and observers should be fully trained to understand our electoral system and procedures and also to acquire skill on how they can track, analyse and report on election events. They owe it to the public to do a good job.”

The Church further urged the media to be fair, resilient and courageous in its reporting.

“The divide that has been created in Zambia where the public media is exclusively dedicated to the propaganda of government and the ruling party and the private media on the other hand giving more attention to the opposition is not healthy. It is our view that the media should be governed by common standards of projecting the truth,” read the letter.

The Church also urged the police to be impartial in policing the elections and called for issue-based campaigns.

It stated that having a popular, legitimate and non-parochial electoral legal framework had eluded Zambians since the return to multi-party politics in 1991.

“The continued undermining of the constitution making processes has robbed the country of great opportunities to strengthen our electoral laws. As Church umbrella organisations, we are saddened by all these lost opportunities and decry the fact that the 2011 elections will be held under the same archaic and discredited laws,” read the letter.

The Church hoped that the regime that would win the 2011 elections would commit itself to redirect and conclude the constitution making process.

Labels: POLITICS

posted by MrK @ 11:42 PM