Infighting destroying PF, warns Mpundu
By Tilyenji Mwanza
Wed 23 Oct. 2013, 14:01 CAT
ARCHBISHOP of Lusaka Telesphore Mpundu says PF will crumble if they continue fighting.
"For any house to stand, to stand strong, they need to work together. And if they continue fighting, PF will crumble. Unity is the cornerstone of any house," said Archbishop Mpundu in reference to the PF wrangles, in which one group is calling for the removal of their secretary general Wynter Kabimba his position.
Archbishop Mpundu implored all politicians to walk the talk of a Christian nation. He said politicians should emulate the Catholic Church which encompasses all races.
"Look at the Catholic Church, we welcome all and are the mother of all churches. Go to all corners of the world you will find the Catholic Church. The Catholics are all over, consisting of all races. We may differ from pigment or even tribe, but we are one and it is this unity that has made us stand strong," he said.
Archbishop Mpundu called for an end to the infighting in the PF.
He said it was not right that the leaders were fighting each other when they were supposed to be shepherds that guide the nation.
He said the leaders in PF needed to work together and guide Zambia in harmony.
"Humanity is one, we may differ in pigmentation or tribe, but we need to stand as one to grow and develop," he said.
Archbishop Mpundu said President Michael Sata was right in calling for reconciliation among party members as the fights being experienced were very unfortunate for a Christian nation.
"We call ourselves a Christian nation, but what is Christianity if we are fighting each other based on tribal barriers? Humanity is one and we have always rightfully shouted 'One Zambia, One Nation' and now a party which is meant to be one is fighting! No, no, no," he said.
Archbishop Mpundu also called on politicians to respect each other and uphold human rights.
"Human rights are actually not created by government but by God and deserve to be upheld," he said.
Archbishop Mpundu said the current tribal fights were deterring what pioneer freedom fighters fought for.
"People like KK fought for unity and it is sad to see their work go in vain. We are going backwards if we want to start fighting each other based on tribal lines. We are all one; we are a race of humanity," said Archbishop Mpundu.
Recently, there have been calls by some senior PF officials for President Sata to remove Kabimba as secretary general.
But Kabimba said that there was a clique of tribal elements that was sponsoring anarchy in the PF.
And Vice-President Dr Guy Scott also said there was some element of tribal prejudice at work in the calls for Kabimba to resign.
But finance minister Alexander Chikwanda said government was deeply concerned with recent media reports attributed in some cases, to senior government officials alleging that there was the practice of tribalism in PF and in government.
"It is indisputable that Zambia's biggest asset is its peace and unity and that all its people live in harmony. In fact, Zambia's natural unity is its fortress, and anyone attempting to bring disunity based on tribe or ethnic grouping is strongly frowned upon. Therefore, the careless talk about tribalism is dangerous, regrettable and only serves to sow seeds of disunity. The talk is counter-productive to the well-being of the country and must be curbed immediately," stated Chikwanda.
"We must emphasise that the recent happenings in the Patriotic Front are purely internal debate and the normal practice of internal democracy. The political differences in the PF party will be resolved using established channels and its internal grievance handling process," he added.
Labels: PF, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Judiciary should be dissolved - Mpundu
By Ernest Chanda
Fri 08 June 2012, 13:25 CAT
LUSAKA Catholic Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu says the Judiciary should be dissolved if it continues to resist reforms. And Archbishop Mpundu has implored Zambians to keep checking on the PF government so that it does not sleep. Archbishop Mpundu said the Judiciary was not a sacred cow that should be left untouched when it made mistakes.
"If there's nothing else that can be done, if there's too much resistance from judicial officers; they are finding every way of blocking what should be a smooth process of reform, then we have no option but to resort to this extreme measure for the good of this country, for the good of the people," Archbishop Mpundu said in an interview yesterday.
"They did that in Kenya because there was no other way to go about it. If you are trying to reason with people; there are provisions within the Constitution that say now, look, if judicial officers as a body will not do XYZ, then another wing of government, in this case the Executive is entitled to do XYZ. So, I hope it doesn't come to that dissolution, but if we must come to that, then let it be."
Archbishop Mpundu said where people did not receive justice, there was a risk of society rising against the system.
"Part of the reason why the Mafia was formed came out of frustrations from not only judicial officers, but also with the police who were conniving with judicial officers to oppress ordinary people. Those who had money, they could buy the police, they could even buy the judges, and so on and so forth," he said.
"So, people said we want justice, we will get it ourselves; we're not going to the courts. And that is a bad thing. Now in a community like ours, the Zambian nation says we are not satisfied with what we're seeing; let us reform the Judiciary, I think it is their right. Why should they be a sacred cow that is not accountable to anyone? Look at what the Constitution says; if the Judiciary within itself is not able to regulate itself, to check itself then another branch of government must come in."
Archbishop Mpundu said there was nothing irregular about public demand for judicial reforms and their subsequent implementation.
Archbishop Mpundu said it was surprising to see so much resistance from the Judiciary which also depended on tax payer's money for survival.
"Why is the Judiciary trying to prevent its being made accountable? What do they have to fear if they are above board? There's nothing to fear. But if there's something that has been going on, then they have a reason to be afraid. If judicial officers are untouchable, if Executive officers say they are untouchable, if Parliament says no we are going to be here till Kingdom come, then there's something wrong with that particular government," he said.
Archbishop Mpundu said since people had been complaining about judicial officers' conduct and some of the rulings that had been handed down; time had come to reform the institution.
"Isn't it time now to look at ourselves and say let's go ahead and reform the Judiciary for their own good, for their own credibility? When the worse comes to the worst, where do we run to? We run to the courts to dispense justice, where people can go and they are treated equally before the law; because it is these people who are there to interpret the laws," Archbishop Mpundu said.
"But if there's no confidence left in the judicial officers and in the judicial system, then what we go to is what? It's lawlessness because people will take the law in their own hands. If they have no more confidence and trust in judges, in magistrates then people don't go there for adjudication; they do it themselves."
And Archbishop Mpundu challenged Zambians to make the government accountable.
"We should never as a nation be complacent; every time we have to take those who are serving us to task, to accountability. We have to challenge them every time. This is our right; they are accountable to us. So, the perception that once a certain political party goes into power they are beyond criticism; they are accountable to nobody, no! They are accountable to us on a day to day basis, so we shouldn't relax," said Archbishop Mpundu.
"We can't wait until something comes out of a fruit. You have to sometimes squeeze it until you get the juice you want. So we are more so as people, a check and balance to the performance of the three wings of government. So, we are the people of Zambia; it is our government and it is our country. We should be free at any time, and, in fact, there should be a time when people must be engaged by the highest authority in assessing their performance; and a deliberate effort made to do that kind of interaction. We should do that sometimes where people are selected to appear on TV and question our leaders."
Labels: JUDICIARY, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Proclamation of Zambia as a ‘Christian nation'
By The Post
Mon 02 Apr. 2012, 13:00 CAT
"…for me and the Catholic Church, the proclamation of Zambia as a Christian nation is a non-event. It is a useless proclamation because not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of God. How Christian are we? Just take a look at what happens when we have a simple by-election. Corruption, intimidation, fighting, thieving…is that Christianity?" asks Lusaka Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu.
We cannot agree more with Archbishop Mpundu on the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation. Truly, we should ask ourselves what kind of fair, just and humane society we have built in this country that declares itself to be Christian.
Truly, the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation is nonsense. And it reminds us of the behaviour of Pharisees. A church that places its patrimonial interests ahead of the demands of justice, life and the people among whom it is inserted is certainly a church that considers man less important than the Sabbath and, like the Pharisees, reverses evangelical priorities.
A religion that cares for the supposed sacredness of its objects but turns its back on those who are the real temples of the spirit is worthless. They don't understand that, in Jesus' way of thinking, there is nothing more sacred than the right to life.
Spirituality refers not only to our spiritual life. It refers to man as a whole, in his spiritual and bodily unity. In the gospels, the totality of the human being is what brings life to the spirit.
Thus, spirituality isn't the way you feel the presence of God. Nor is it the way you believe. As Archbishop Mpundu has correctly quoted, Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,' shall enter the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Thus, spirituality is a way of living according to the spirit. José Marti, outstanding hero and forerunner of Cuba's liberation, said that "Doing is the best way of saying." For Christians, living is the best way of believing.
Faith without deeds is worthless; declarations of Christian this, Christian that without Christian deeds are worthless; as James stated, "What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but has not works? Can his faith save him?
If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead" (James 2:14-17).
Equally, our way of life is the result of what we believe. Our way of being the church is a reflection of our concept of God. Declarations of Zambia being a Christian nation without Christian deeds are worthless, are dead, are nonsensical and useless.
It is a deception, a lie, a falsehood. It is hypocrisy similar to that of the Pharisees. We shouldn't forget that in the Old Testament, the prophets were worried by idolatry, the gods created in accord with human interests. There is still much idolatry.
In the name of God and under the banner of a Christian nation that they had declared, Frederick Chiluba and his friends looted the national treasury to enrich themselves. Chiluba was a contributor to the coffers of many pastors who were his friends and their churches.
And it was them who came up and still support this nonsense, this falsehood, this deception of Zambia being a Christian nation to conceal their own inadequacies and corruption.
For Jesus, the world wasn't divided between the Christians and the non-Christians, between the pure and the impure, as the Pharisees wished; it was divided between those who favoured life and those who supported death.
Everything that generates more life - from a gesture of love to social revolution - is in line with God's scheme of things, in line with the construction of the Kingdom, for life is a greatest gift given to us by God.
Whoever is born is born in God to enter the sphere of life. At the same time, Jesus' spirituality contradicted that of the Pharisees, which consisted of rites, duties, asceticisms and the observance of discipline.
Fidelity is the centre of life for the Pharisees; the Father was the centre of life for Jesus. The Pharisees measured spirituality by the practice of cultural rules; Jesus measured it by the filial opening to God's love and compassion. For the Pharisees, sanctity is a human conquest; for Jesus it was a gift of the Father for those who opened up to his grace.
And in this sense, all who struggle for life are included in God's scheme, even if they lacked faith.
"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee?' And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these brethren, you did it to me'" (Matthew 25:37-40).
It is your fellow man, and especially the one who lacks life and needs justice, in whom God wishes to be served and loved. Therefore, there is no contradiction between the struggle for justice and the fulfillment of God's will. One demands the other. All who work along that line of God's scheme are considered Jesus' brothers and sisters (Mark 3:31-35). This is the best way to follow Jesus, especially in Zambia's present situation.
Looking at things this way, one can understand why Archbishop Mpundu says the fact that Zambia's current President, Michael Sata, is a staunch Catholic fundamentalist doesn't matter in the way the Church will deal with him and his government.
The religious persuasion of the President doesn't matter in the way the Church must deal with the government. This is so because, as Archbishop Mpundu correctly observes, the church has a God-given command to speak for the voiceless: "Speak up for the people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless.
Speak for them and be a righteous judge. Protect the rights of the poor and needy" (Proverbs 31:8-9). Thus, if criticism is valid, it must be made. But this does not mean that the Church and its leadership must go on a marathon of cynicism criticising everyone and everything for the sake of it. Such a course will be tantamount to cynicism.
And societies have never been built by cynics. What is needed is a humble leadership. This is so because Christ's entire doctrine was devoted to the humble, the poor; his doctrine was devoted to fighting against abuse, injustice and the degradation of human beings.
And given the humbleness of the great majority of our people, a true leadership of our people should be dominated by the humble.
The humble being in the majority, what is needed is a government that truly represents them as such - a government of the humble, by the humble, for the humble. Again, as Archbishop has correctly pointed out, "there is need for leaders to be humble. They were once ordinary people like everybody else. Great leaders are those who are humble. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to show how humble he was and so every leader should humble themselves".
We also know that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.Some people start to get deformed as soon as they have some little power, some little responsibility; they start to change the way they talk to others, the way they walk and act.
Power quickly gets to their heads; they start to become big-headed and so full of themselves. They forget that the exercise of power must be a constant practice of self-limitation and modesty and not a source of arrogance, lack of humility and abuses of power.
The exercise of power should not be something that changes someone, deforms someone. Of course, there is need to bear in mind that the exercise of power, if not moderated, has greater risks. And this requires being aware of this danger and ever alert, ever vigilant against it.
And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what label we put on ourselves - Christian this or that, socialist this or that, liberal this or that, conservative this or that. What matters is what we do - "doing is the best way of saying".
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Proclamation of Zambia as a ‘Christian nation' is a non-event, says Mpundu
By Kombe Chimpinde and Abraham Kalito
Mon 02 Apr. 2012, 12:59 CAT
THE proclamation of Zambia as a Christian nation is a non-event, says Lusaka Catholic Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu. And the Catholic Church will continue to speak on wrongs committed by the government whether they want to listen or not.
In an interview yesterday after the Palm Sunday march in commemoration of Easter, Archbishop Mpundu said people were supposed to live and operation in accordance with principles of God.
"That is why for me and the Catholic Church, the proclamation of Zambia as a Christian nation is a non-event. It's a useless proclamation because not everyone who says 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of God. How Christian are we? Just take a look at what happens when we have a simple by-election. Corruption, intimidation, fighting, thieving…is that Christianity?" Archbishop Mpundu asked.
He said Zambia was a rich country, yet a larger part of the population was poor due to mismanagement of resources.
"This is the case with the rest of Africa. We are supposed to operate according to the principle given to us by God: 'I was hungry you fed me, I was sick you visited me, I was naked you clothed me'…that is the only way we can change Zambia to a better place," Archbishop Mpundu said.
The clergyman said Catholics had a belief that the statements of those that professed the Christian faith ought to match their deeds as well.
And Archbishop Mpundu said contrary to the perception that the Catholic Church had gone into hibernation following the ushering in of the new government led by a staunch Catholic fundamentalist, President Michael Sata, the church would continue advising the government on national issues whether they wanted to listen or not.
"We will warn the government again and again even if they do not listen. We are not resting because the President is a catholic," Archbishop Mpundu said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday after a Palm Sunday march.
"So it is not true that we have gone quiet. We have always spoken. In the second Republic during Kaunda's era, Kaunda accused us of being in the opposition because we spoke. We will continue to speak but only when it's necessary. We will continue to speak whether people want to listen to our voice or not. We may be quiet now but really when there is something to be said we will say it."
He said the church would not go into hibernation or on holiday, as speaking for the voiceless was a God-given command.
"We are not partisan at all; partisan politics is none of our concern. We do not need political power, the church is powerful enough. Even as a small minority the church is still powerful," Archbishop Mpundu said.
"In Nigeria, there are about 20 million Catholics and the rest are not but when bishops there speak, everyone listens. It's the same with the Vatican. The Vatican is about 14 acres, but when the Pope speaks, the world listens. People do not like the Catholic Church because they have something to offer to humanity."
And speaking shortly after the Palm Sunday march past, Archbishop Mpundu said Esther should be used by leaders and the rest of Zambians to reflect on the need to be humble through embracing the life of Jesus Christ as their model.
"There is need for leaders to be humble. They were once ordinary people like everybody else. Great leaders are those who are humble. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to show how humble he was and so every leader should humble themselves," said Archbishop Mpundu.
"Those who usually say they are the mighty are not usually the mighty because God says the greatest must be the smallest. We need to socialise and love each other; we should imitate Him (Jesus). This is the message that is evergreen. So we were marching to show that we are united as Christians and as people, so that we can send out a signal to the world to show that we belong together and also send a message to people in Zambia to be one despite having different tribes and clans."
Thousands of Christians gathered in different parts of Lusaka yesterday to commemorate the Psalm Sunday.
Palm Sunday is a day when Christians around the world commemorate Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem before he was crucified on the cross later in the same week.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Constitution-making process needs legal protection - ZEC
By Roy Habaalu
Mon 30 Jan. 2012, 13:59 CAT
THE Zambia Episcopal Conference says the constitution-making process needs a legal instrument that safeguards and protects its content.
During a press briefing yesterday at which they released a pastoral letter themed: "That they may have abundant life", ZEC president Archbishop Ignatius Chama said from experience, the Church had learnt that if the constitutional-making process was not sufficiently protected by law, it was prone to political manipulation.
"Much as the new government has given the Zambian people assurances that the current process will be independent and that the government will endeavour to deliver a people-driven constitution, these assurances are based on trust rather than a legal framework," said Archbishop Chama.
He said the government should show commitment towards the process by appointing a referendum commission to start preparatory work in anticipation of the draft constitution.
"We urge the constitution technical committee to bear in mind that Zambia has already spent enormous amounts of money on the constitution-making process and the public is anxious to know how much more their government is going to spend this time around," he said.
He said the government should exercise diligence in the fight against corruption, which should be conducted within the confines of the rule of law.
He said the fight against corruption should be free of any symptoms that betray and misuse the judicial process to target political opponents.
"More specifically, government must demonstrate how it is reforming public accountability systems to avert future corrupt practices by those in public office today. While political leaders may seem to be corrupt, we are aware that the civil service is the engine of development in any nation," he said.
Meanwhile, Archdiocese of Lusaka Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu said previous regimes used the judicial process to persecute their political opponents.
He said current investigations on former government leaders should be based on correcting wrongs.
"We have laws and if they are not adequate, they need to be re-enforced with no directives from the executive. If the law was broken, those in charge should do their work for the good of the nation. As far as we're concerned, the ongoing investigations should be in line with the rule of law," said Archbishop Mpundu.
On management of public funds, Archbishop Chama said while the Catholic Church appreciated the government's efforts to use resources prudently, there were apparent contradictions that had come along with the measures.
"We also see policies that seem to overstretch public resources such as new additional diplomatic missions abroad in an era where richer nations are closing and rationalising their respective embassies.
"There are many other extravagances such as the setting up of many commissions of inquiry instead of consolidating existing investigative wings," he said.
On health, Archbishop Chama said it was disheartening and unacceptable for the government's reluctance to fund hospices because it did not recognise them as health institutions under the Ministry of Health structure.
Labels: CONSTITUTION, IGNATIUS CHAMA, TELESPHORE MPUNDU, ZEC
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Leaders are there to serve God's people
By The Post
Tue 08 Nov. 2011, 14:00 CAT
An authority is needed to guide the energies of all towards the common good.
The government is the instrument by which people cooperate together in order to achieve the common good. Therefore, those who are elected or selected to lead us, to administer the affairs of our government must be people who are known for their honesty, ability, dedication and concern for the welfare of all.
What our people are seeking is genuine democracy in which the leaders are servants of the electorate and not their masters. And good governance only occurs when we have intelligent, honest and humble leaders who see politics as a vocation to serve the people. No one deserves to be in any government position unless they love their country more than themselves.
We are also aware that political leadership is an area of great importance for promoting justice, peace, development and community among all. We regard political leadership as a vocation, a way of building up society for the common good.
We are reminded in Romans 13:4 that the ruler is God's servant working for your own good. We are also reminded in Mark 9:35 that whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. And this fits in very well with the teaching of Telesphore Mpundu, the Archbishop of Lusaka, when he says that a political leader who forgets that leaders are there to serve God's people is offside. Leadership is about service. And the proper role of government is to serve citizens. It does this by creating opportunities that benefit all citizens without discrimination. Overall, citizens should be concerned with the way leaders lead them and administer public affairs.
A person chosen for political responsibility as a leader must remember that he is simply a servant or steward entrusted to offer humble service to others as opposed to owning power or the people he is serving. The owner of authority and people is God. Leaders, who are servants, are accountable to the people who chose them; they work for the common good.
And the Lord sets the example of leading by being a servant: "I, your Lord and Teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another's feet. I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done for you. I'm telling you the truth: no slave is greater than his master, and no messenger is greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know this truth, how happy you will be if you put it into practice!" (John 13:14-17).
Clearly, we need saintly politicians who profoundly love their own people and wish to serve rather than to be served. Truly, leaders should exercise stewardship and uphold the common good. This is very important because the greatest challenge to bringing about justice and peace in our country consists in good administration of public affairs in politics and the economy.
The common good is the reason for the existence of political, social and economic institutions. It enables people to express commitment and concern for each other as well as attain the fullness of love. Common good calls upon all persons to contribute and commit themselves responsibly to building a peaceful and just society for all.
And the best way for a leader to fulfil his obligations to the electorate and indeed his obligations of justice and love is to contribute to the common good. Political office, and political power in general, must have as its aim the achievement of the common good. This is so because the whole reason for the existence of civil authority is the realisation of the common good. We are again reminded in Mark 12:31: "The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself'…"
Our leaders should view themselves as being our representatives. And as such they should listen to the people, respect the people and work for the welfare of all the people. Leaders who consider themselves to be servants of the people rule with care.
Our leaders should not forget that in truth, their authority does not come from a document, some piece of paper, a constitution. It comes from the people who have the power to elect their leaders. It is the people who give them the authority. And that authority is given to them not to do wrong but to love and serve the people.
Political leadership is an effective way of serving others and working for integral development of one's country. And this being the case, political leadership should be exercised in the most honest and responsible way and within the limits of the moral order.
Our politicians often don't like to be reminded of the fact that they are our servants, and not our masters. And that they have a duty to do as we please and not as they want and must always hold themselves accountable to us.
They would like to see themselves as our bosses, our masters, the givers of everything we have, the dispensers of favours to us, the chief human resource managers whose duty is to employ and fire us as and when they wish. This is where their importance seems to lie. When you remind them that they are servants and not masters, you become enemies because you are challenging their authority, their power.
But this is the understanding, these are the values that brought us together, that made us friends before they got into power, before they assumed public office. And now that they want to move away from these values, these standards, they get annoyed when we remind them about who they are, about their role as servants of the people and start to call us all sorts of names. They forget that we are simply adhering to the values and standards that we once shared with them. They have moved on, they have changed but we are still where they left us and we haven't changed our values and our standards.
This is where the problem lies. This is where the differences stem from. We encourage other religious leaders to join Archbishop Mpundu in reminding our political leaders not to forget who they are and what their role is as servants of God's people. They need to hear this more often, so repeatedly. They may not like it but they have to continue to listen to this message if they are to serve the people in a manner that will truly serve and promote the common good.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, LEADERSHIP, POLITICS, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Catholics are proud of Nkomeshya - Mpundu
By Mwala Kalaluka in Chongwe
Tue 08 Nov. 2011, 13:50 CAT
LUSAKA Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu says the Catholic Church is proud that its member, senior chieftainess Nkomeshya, is a principled leader who cannot be bullied by the powers that be. And Chongwe's St Paul Catholic Church priest in-charge, Fr Gabriel Mwanamwalye says the Church will not go on a picnic following its resolve to speak for the people.
Addressing congregants after he confirmed over 200 people at Chongwe's St Paul Catholic Church, Archbishop Mpundu said the people should threaten political leaders that do not want to listen to them using the ballot box.
"I would like to say this loudly and clearly before our people. It is us who are edified and humbled to see you so humble at the service of your people," Archbishop Mpundu told chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II.
"It is very rare to see chiefs who come and kneel down just bringing some gift. This is the attitude that her royal highness has, to serve people, not to be served and this is what we are confirmed for."
Archbishop Mpundu said the Catholic Church was proud of chieftainess Nkomeshya of the Soli people of Lusaka Province.
"We support you through and through. We want to remind our civic and political leaders that when we elect them into power we are the employers, they are our employees," Archbishop Mpundu said. "They are supposed to serve us and when they refuse to serve us, then we remind them or we threaten them with the ballot box."
On the forthcoming by-elections in Chongwe Constituency, Archbishop Mpundu urged the electorate to do chieftainess Nkomeshya proud by rejecting outsiders exporting violence to the area.
"On 24th November you go for voting, we as Christians don't know violence, whether it is violence in the mouth or physical violence, no. Only people who are very vulnerable and very weak want to use violence," said Archbishop Mpundu. "People in Chongwe are peaceful, it's outsiders who want to make them violent, reject them."
And in an earlier address, Fr Mwanamwalye said the Catholic Church does not fear anyone as it was founded on a solid foundation of the apostles.
"The Archbishop travelled to all these places, he saw how the people are living. He participated in their joy and sorrow, therefore when the Bishop is going to speak out at some point as he does most of the time, people ask him where do you speak from? Where do you get this and that?" Fr Mwanamwalye said.
"He speaks through experience, he knows what he is talking about and as a Bishop he is not on a picnic, no. The Catholic Church has never been on a picnic and we have a serious Archbishop and all the Bishops when they speak, it's because they see what is happening; they live with the people."
Fr Mwanamwalye asked those confirmed to be like soldiers who would defend the Church through praying for its leadership.
"Pray for them, they need your strength but above all show love to one another and I will tell you one thing, laziness is a sin," said Fr Mwanamwalye.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, CHIEFTIANESS NKOMESHYA, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Slandering Catholics
By The Post
Fri 15 Apr. 2011, 04:00 CAT
It requires little intelligence – if little is all one has – to see and understand that the leadership of Rupiah Banda’s government and the MMD is waging a campaign to malign, slander, humiliate, demonise the Catholic Church and its leadership.
But why should this be so? Our simple explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those on the opposite end of the moral spectrum.
Rupiah’s government and party are today attacking the Catholic Church and its leadership because this church reminds them of the need to pay attention to human needs and sufferings.
But in reality, the Catholic Church is only fulfilling its responsibility – the duty to speak for the poor and disadvantaged in accordance with the biblical directive: “Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves.
Protect the rights of all who are helpless. Speak for them and be a righteous judge. Protect the rights of the poor and the needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9).
If Rupiah and his friends were truly and selflessly concerned about the plight of the poor and the needy, the right relationship between them and the Catholic leadership would be that of partnership rather than enmity.
And when it comes to the issues of speaking out for the poor and the needy and defending their rights, the Catholic Church and its leadership will be “political” but not “partisan”.
It is the duty of the leadership of the Catholic Church, that is priests, bishops, cardinals and indeed the Pope himself to guide nations in matters that affect the lives of their citizens in the light of gospel values.
And the leadership of the Catholic Church, by reason of its role and competence, is not bound to any political system.
It simply contributes toward the reign of justice and charity within the borders of a nation and between nations.
We have paid a lot of attention, we pay a lot of attention to the teachings of the leadership of the Catholic Church on many issues that affect our people and our country.
And what we have come to realise and fully appreciate is the fact that the leadership of the Catholic Church greatly values the democratic system inasmuch as it ensures the participation of our people in all their diversities and complexities in making political choices, guarantees to the governed the possibility of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them through peaceful means when appropriate.
To this end, the leadership of the Catholic Church has been consistently calling on all our people to participate actively and responsibly in civil society.
We think this is so because in civil society, people come together with different interests to work for the common good. Government and civil society should co-operate together and individuals should be obliged to make their specific contributions to the common good.
And we can make a difference if we get fully involved in national affairs, and especially if we are guided by noble ideas and sentiments.
Looked at in this way, it is easy to see that the Catholic leadership has both the right and duty to participate fully in building a just and peaceful society with all the means at its disposal.
And moreover, a church leadership is not fully rooted among its people if it does not try to establish justice.
We are reminded in James 2:17 that “Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead”.
And as Pope John Paul II aptly put it, “A faith and a life which are authentically Christian cannot fail to blossom in a love which constitutes truth and promotes justice”.
In a country where the political leadership steals public funds and abuses public offices with impunity, it is right for the leadership of the Catholic Church to see to it that those in power, those in public offices serve the people, and not the other way round.
We say this because sustainable and integral human development can only be promoted in ways that truly serve the people.
For we know that true peace in our country means true justice where there is fair sharing of resources and the benefits from economic development really improve the lives of all intended people, especially the most vulnerable.
Any honest person can see that the teachings of Catholic priests and bishops on this score is what is leading to this hatred, to this anger from the government and the ruling party because it is making the Catholic Church and its leadership more relevant and credible amidst a situation of many problems but also many potentials.
And as we have already demonstrated in the quote above from Proverbs 31:8-9, there is a very strong and important theological foundation for what the Catholic leadership is saying and doing.
And this is not a new position. This is a position the Catholic leadership has held for a very long time.
And this was clearly presented in the 1971 Synod of Bishops declaration, “Justice in the World”: “The hopes and forces which are moving the world in its very foundations are not foreign to the dynamism of the gospel, which through the power of the Holy Spirit frees women and men from personal sin and its consequences in social life.”
This is an echo of another powerful truth presented in the most important document of the second Vatican Council, “The Church in the Modern World” (1965): “The joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties, of the women and men of this age, especially the poor and those in any way oppressed, these are the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties, of the followers of Jesus Christ.”
Clearly, we need the Catholic leadership, among other religious leaders and institutions, to continue to be the conscience of our society, a moral custodian and a fearless champion of the interests of the weak and downtrodden.
And as Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu has correctly observed, “the powers of Hades will not manage to bring it down or prevail against it”.
What is going on is a calculated campaign of misinformation of the public by a corrupt clique of politicians who want to hang on to power at all costs so that they can continue to abuse public resources and offices.
And in doing so, this corrupt clique does not take kindly to those who try to stand in its way to wrongdoing.
And it doesn’t need to be Catholics for them to be subjected to the slander, malice, lies, calumny that the Catholic leadership is today subjected to.
All that one needs is to stand in their way and one will be treated in the same way the Catholic leadership is being treated today.
And one doesn’t need to look far to see what we are talking about.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, MMD, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Catholics respond to govt’s slander
By Ernest Chanda
Fri 15 Apr. 2011, 04:02 CAT
ARCHBISHOP Telesphore Mpundu says the Catholic church will remain strong no matter how much persecution it receives from the government.
And Archbishop Mpundu says amending the presidential emoluments Act to allow President Rupiah Banda get his gratuity is voracious, unethical and shocking arithmetic. In an interview, Archbishop Mpundu who is in-charge of Lusaka Catholic Diocese said those in authority had vilified the Church mainly because of greed.
“We have repeatedly told successive administrations, particularly the current one, that the Catholic Church has no need for, nor is it interested in political power. Though ‘seemingly weak’, the Church is founded on the Rock of the Faith of St Peter and the Apostles in Jesus Christ so the powers of Hades will not manage to bring it down or prevail against it!” Archbishop Mpundu said.
“The accusations don't bother us in the least; we treat them with the derision they deserve and regard them as a calculated campaign of misinformation of the public by intransigent administrations that don't like to be challenged by their own people who vote them into power even and especially when there is a legitimate reason to do so.”
Archbishop Mpundu said public slander of the Catholic Church by the MMD government was not something new.
“It is just a continuation of and a purely nefarious smack by successive governments at the Church that refuses to compromise or to be bullied into silence on important national issues that affect our people particularly the poor, marginalised and the voiceless,” he said.
Archbishop Mpundu said the present scenario of the clowning disparagement of the Catholic Church called for urgent need for a new constitution. He said it was sad that the government had included the media on its speculation list.
“It is so sad to see private media personnel persecuted, dragged into courts on flimsy charges. It is equally sad to watch our public media professionals and practitioners being told how to do their work, that is: what to say, what to write and what to do so often against their professional judgement and ethics,” Archbishop Mpundu said.
And Archbishop Mpundu said the courts should help stop plunder of public resources through the presidential emoluments Act.
“If the amendment of presidential emoluments Act infringes on the Constitution then our courts of law must come to our rescue and stop the attempt to legalise plunder of the national financial resources,” said Archbishop Mpundu.
“Besides, one marvels at the generosity of Zambians in giving the retired Zambian President a gratuity over and above a ‘life-long contract’ with the people of Zambia in that after leaving office this person is given a multi-billion Kwacha house, security, tip-top transport, free medical care, other allowances and fringe benefits… It is surely a very attractive package and a strong motivation for people to aspire to be at plot number 1!”
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Mpundu warns of violence disaster
By Ernest Chanda
Tue 12 Apr. 2011, 04:01 CAT
LUSAKA Catholic Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu has warned of a national disaster if the government keeps quiet on MMD-perpetrated political violence.
In an interview yesterday, Archbishop Mpundu said no matter how peaceful they were, people could only be stretched to a certain extent, after which they were bound to react.
“It is a disaster waiting to happen. In several by-elections last year, the nation was treated to a dress rehearsal of what could happen at a much greater scale if no decisive action is taken by the highest political authorities whose condemnation of violence is at best equivocal if not very encouraging to the perpetrators!” Archbishop Mpundu said.
“Although Zambians are generally peaceful and long suffering people, those we elect to rule us should always bear in mind that there is a limit to people's patience and resilience as recent events in North Africa and the Middle East can testify. Law enforcement institutions seem to be powerless and paralysed into inaction while people are beaten up in their presence and absence alike.”
Archbishop Mpundu said it was saddening that those who perpetrated political violence could not be arrested even though they were well known.
“These cadres...act with impunity, maiming innocent citizens, threatening others with unprintable atrocities in the open, insulting even public figures and terrorising commuters at bus and railway stations, market places and even at the international airport at will,” Archbishop Mpundu said.
“These are not faceless ruffians but known hired political hooligans with high-sounding titles bestowed on them by their sponsors but no arrests have been made, save for a few small fish leaving the architects of violence. With the countdown to the forthcoming general elections, the atmosphere is already so highly charged that these crooks will be even more sadistic come election time. All it needs is a little match to set the flame of violence ablaze. Those in the position to prevent such a scenario should not say they were not warned.
“The situation is now further aggravated by the failure of the Constitution of Zambia bill to go through Parliament. Unless a miracle happens, we are likely to go to the polls on the amended 1996 Constitution. We have not forgotten that as a result of this clearly inadequate document there was tension in the country before, during and after the 2001 and 2006 general elections and the 2008 presidential election. There has been a loud enough alarm bell sounded that unless we handle very, very cautiously and swiftly the issue of the new constitution which respects the major issues of the people of Zambia articulated as contained in the Mung'omba draft constitution, we should not be astonished if much more severe unrest comes our way in the build-up to, during and after this year's general elections.”
Archbishop Mpundu said it was time for police to equip themselves and practice justice as the nation heads to the general election.
Labels: MMD, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Archbishop Mpundu demands govt position over draft constitution
By Ernest Chanda
Thu 14 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT
ARCHBISHOP Telesphore Mpundu has asked the government to explain to the nation what will happen to the draft constitution that was handed over to them by the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) in August this year.
In an interview, Archbishop Mpundu, who is Lusaka Catholic Archdiocese head, demanded a clear explanation on the way forward regarding the constitution-making process. He contended that the public could not afford to be kept in the dark when the draft constitution was presented to the government over a month ago.
“The NCC Draft Constitution was handed over to the Minister of Justice on 31 August 2010; what is the next step? Is the government trusted not to subject the draft to a further massage before presenting it to Parliament?
Are the people of Zambia going to a referendum to vote only on issues on which they spoke so loudly to the Mung’omba Commission but not on the genetically modified NCC Draft and the further finely or ‘White Paper’-massaged government draft?” Archbishop Mpundu questioned.
“What are the people of Zambia going to the Referendum to vote for? When? This year? The rainy season is only weeks away. Next year? Referendum and tripartite elections in one year? And finances for both the referendum and the tripartite elections in one year? Oh, we are sure the government can do it but we are being kept in the dark as to what is going on.”
He argued that the constitution-making process was marred by confusion from the beginning to the end.
Archbishop Mpundu suggested that the preamble to the draft constitution could perhaps have been changed to suit the interest of the NCC delegates since the document was not prepared for the public.
“Perhaps the best preamble for the constitution that comes out of this messy business should read ‘We, the NCC….!’ but not ‘We, the People of Zambia…!’ The summary of the constitution-making exercise can only be termed as ‘An unmitigated and very expensive disaster for Zambia!’ Posterity will judge us very harshly for squandering yet another chance, at enormous cost, of laying a solid foundation for a true and sustainable democracy for our children and children’s children,” Archbishop Mpundu lamented.
He bemoaned the lack of respect for constitutionalism by most African countries. Archbishop Mpundu argued that the NCC should have removed excessive powers that surround the Presidency in the current Constitution.
“I must repeat once more that it is very unfortunate that many political leaders in Africa in general and Zambia in particular view the Constitution as a tool to hold on to political power at all costs, instead of regarding it as the only tool to development. Therefore they do everything by hook and crook to tailor-make a constitution that suits the political agenda of the party in power,” he said.
“It is very distressing that after spending so much money, which we can ill afford to waste, time and energy on trying to make a good constitution the Zambian citizens have once again been dribbled and betrayed.
No wonder the church mother bodies stayed away from the NCC and they have been vindicated because the NCC not only ridiculed serious recommendations such as the updated Bill of Rights, branding them as utopian and myopic, but came up with a draft clearly at variance with the Mung’omba Constitution Review Commission Draft!”
He said with the NCC constitution, the government of the day would continue to abuse public institutions such as the media.
Archbishop Mpundu wondered which person would ever trust the government on constitutional matters.
“Apart from the absence of a clear and adequate separation of powers, an updated bill of rights there is nowhere we see the much needed, long overdue and effective electoral reform elements such as the 50 per cent plus one, the reduction of the president’s enormous powers to mention but a few.
Our past elections may have been generally free but they certainly have not been fair and transparent! Where is the level playing field for political actors on the national stage?” asked Archbishop Mpundu.
“Already the administration is using the hijacked public media and some well remunerated private ones campaigning for the political party and president in power. The public media, which all Zambian taxpayers subsidise, have already subjected the citizenry to government propaganda. Until after the 2011 tripartite elections it will be a real torture to watch any Zambian television station!”
Labels: CONSTITUTION, NCC, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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A disgraced judiciary
By The Post
Wed 29 Sep. 2010, 04:00 CAT
The observations on the lack of independence of our judiciary made by Lusaka Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu deserve careful reflection from all of us. The judiciary is a very important institution of the state. Its ability to function properly determines whether we have a functioning democracy or a banana republic. A judiciary which is not independent from the executive’s excessive influence is a recipe for disaster. This is why all of us need to calmly reflect on the many criticisms that are being made against the judiciary. We all know that criticism is not something to be enjoyed but it is necessary.
This is something that we have always said in relation to the judiciary. When people from different walks of life begin to comment about an issue incessantly, those with the ability to do something about it would do well to listen very carefully. Being overly sensitive or cynical may serve as a short-term strategy but this is certainly not sustainable. The leaders and members of the judiciary should begin to ask themselves very simple but deep questions. Some of the questions that they need to honestly ask themselves are: why are people so unhappy with the judiciary? Is this criticism justified or is unjustified? And what is it that is earning the judiciary this disdain and public criticism? Is it possible that the judiciary is not doing anything good?
We say this because it is not possible that everything that the judiciary is doing is wrong. We have no doubt that the judiciary does a lot of good on a day to day basis. But there must be some serious lapses of judgment, which are significant enough to make our people so unhappy with the judiciary. In this country, we do not have a culture of disrespect for the courts. If anything, anyone who is associated with the judicial system, including ordinary lawyers, enjoy significant levels of respect and prestige. With this sort of background, something must have gone very wrong for our people to change their feelings and views towards the judiciary. It is not a question of the good that they do on a day to day basis that is of concern to our people; it is the deliberate wrongs that have injured many of our people. Our people expect the judiciary to be their last line of defence. When all else fails, the judiciary is expected to defend the interests of our people against the vulgar interests of some vultures, hyenas, jackals and all sorts of political scavengers.
It is on this score where the judiciary seems to have failed our people. It is at the point of defending the rights of our people against political interests that go contrary to public good and indeed the law. Most of our people want to see a brave judiciary that is going to implement the law without fear or regard to the position of the offender. They expect to have a judiciary that is going to strike fear in the minds of their elected officials because they know that if they break the law and abuse their offices, the courts will bring them to account regardless of who they are. But this does not seem to be the case.
Justice, which is supposed to be blind to the station or position of its recipient is now a selective affair that afflicts the poor and defends and vindicates criminals as long as they are politically powerful, they control government and other state institutions, including the judiciary itself. It is true, as Archbishop Mpundu has observed, there are serious structural deficiencies in our constitutional arrangements that make it difficult for our judiciary to be independent. But there are no deficiencies in our constitutional arrangements that cannot be surmounted by integrity and a determination to do the right thing. We don’t want to underplay the pressures that the judiciary must face from an overbearing executive, but still we insist that integrity can defeat even the most overbearing politician.
We do not think that our judiciary has ever been so diminished in its standing, in the 46 years of our independence, as it is now. And the way that Frederick Chiluba’s corruption matters have been handled has left the credibility of the judiciary in tatters. What is worse is that there does not seem to be a recognition in the judiciary that there is something wrong with the way that the Chiluba matters have been handled. It is surprising that in the wake of such a disastrous involvement with Chiluba, the judiciary expects our people to respect it. We have pointed out before that the corruption that Chiluba engaged in involved the judiciary at its highest levels. The judiciary’s failure to recognise that its credibility is mortally wounded demonstrates a pathetic detachment from reality which, throughout history, has rendered institutions irrelevant to the people. Well-meaning public servants such as the judiciary should be concerned about being irrelevant to the people when it matters most.
But this is something that our judiciary seems to have mastered. They have become good at being irrelevant when it matters to our people. They are comfortable with embarrassing themselves and disappointing our people on issues that are in black and white. To this day, we do not understand how a self-respecting judge can ignore his own precedent to save a criminal. This is what judge Evans Hamaundu did. He bent over backwards to breaking point to accommodate a thief. Today, the name of judge Hamaundu is synonymous with disgrace to the judiciary. It is not a name one can easily mention. Even the owner of the name himself must feel some shame mentioning his own name in public because it is not a name that is associated with honour and integrity.
The same thing applies to that magistrate, we mean Jones Chinyama, who acquitted Chiluba in the most questionable of circumstances. And in all this, it is not difficult for our people to see that the independence of our judges and magistrates is threatened not only from outside but is also facing internal challenges within the judiciary itself. There appears to be some connivance, collusion or even overbearing supervision within the judiciary itself that is making generally intelligent judicial officers make embarrassing decisions that they know to be wrong. Judicial officers are supposed to enjoy the highest levels of independence both internally, that is within the judiciary, and should be insulated from interference from outside. But this does not appear to be the case. There is no magistrate or judge who should be told by any other person what judgment to make. Their administrative supervision should not extend to being told, or being put in a position where they feel that a certain line should be taken or decision made. But this seems to be what is happening in our judiciary today, for which those responsible should be made to answer in one way or another.
If the judiciary can fail to allow internal independence, what hope is there that such a judiciary will survive the excessive and overbearing overtures of the executive? If the judiciary is truly interested in being independent, it must be seen to be exercising its own independence. It must respect its own judicial officers and expect them to function independently. In other words, no one will fight for the independence of the judiciary that does not even try to be independent itself. It is shocking that a body that has so much power that it can send a helpless lawyer to jail for an opinion that he may or may not have expressed to his client in the privacy of his office, is now trying to pretend that they need protection from other people. Who is going to protect the judiciary if they can’t protect themselves?
And protection from who? And who should offer this protection? Is it Rupiah Banda or Chiluba who seem to be the greatest recipients of its favourable considerations? The judiciary is supposed to be the ultimate protector of our people. If it cannot protect itself from interference by the executive, of what use is it to our people? And why should our people be expected to protect this judiciary in its current state? What is in it for our people? This judiciary can only be protected by integrity. A judiciary that is transparent and operates on the basis of uncompromising integrity does not need protection from anyone because its dignity and integrity are its protection. Those who attack such a judiciary will be ashamed because it has nothing to hide and no wrongs to defend. We are not saying that the judiciary cannot make mistakes or poor judgments. As Archbishop Mpundu has observed, they are not angels. And many of our people of goodwill have no trouble accommodating the honest mistakes of sincere public servants. And such mistakes can be distinguished from deliberate schemes that deny the people justice.
The judiciary needs to rise to the challenge of its calling. To try and portray itself as a victim of unjustified attacks is beneath the dignity of a people’s defender. If they have done nothing wrong, they have no reason to be ashamed. But many of our people know that the judiciary has robbed them of justice. And any doubts that many of our people may have had about the independence of the judiciary or the lack of it have now been demonstrated. A judiciary that does not respect its own principles for decision making should not expect the respect of our people.
Labels: TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Archbishop Mpundu defends criticism of judiciary
By Ernest Chanda
Wed 29 Sep. 2010, 04:02 CAT
LUSAKA Catholic diocese Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu has defended public criticism of the judiciary.
In an interview, Archbishop Mpundu said just like any other public institution, the judiciary was not immune to criticism. He said judicial officers were not angels who should not be expected to make mistakes, but that they were human beings vulnerable to corruption.
“The judiciary’s over-sensitiveness to public criticism is indeed very unfortunate. The executive, which is the most visible among the wings of government, is criticised and Parliament is also criticised; the media both private and public are criticised, Civil Society is criticised, NGOs are criticised, the Church is criticised and, in the case of the Catholic Church even maligned,” Archbishop Mpundu explained.
“Nurses and doctors make mistakes and sometimes at the cost to life. Why should the judicature be the only exception and sacred cow that can do no wrong? Judicial officers are ordinary mortals like the rest of us, not angels walking on earth immune to bribery, corruption and pressure from the almighty executive wing of government. The bottom line is the stark truth that the judiciary is not infallible and, therefore, it ought to and must also be criticised just like any other group of people.”
Archbishop Mpundu contended that the judiciary had in the recent past delivered controversial rulings that had lowered its image. He said where the judiciary was independent, no one would be stopped from appealing against certain cases or judgments.
“In this country’s history, especially the recent past, some of the rulings of the judicature have not enhanced the image of this learned institution as an independent part of government. This nation has witnessed the abuse of our judicial system by successive administrations without exception to punish real or perceived political adversaries,” he said.
“When and if the judiciary loses or is deliberately deprived by the executive branch of government of its ability to make independent judgments, then a situation arises whereby some animals become less equal than others. Inevitably the majority of the people who are poor and worthless, don’t have justice done to them. It is therefore extremely important that all citizens and non-citizens resident in our country be equal before the law of our land. Nobody should be considered guilty until proved so by the courts of law. In the same vein, no one individual or group, including the people of Zambia, should be prevented by the executive from appealing to a higher court if they have reason to believe justice has not been done to them by a subordinate court.”
Archbishop Mpundu said although some of the criticism could be from ignorant people, their views should still be respected.
“Admittedly, quite a good deal of criticism is from ignorance but citizens should and must have a right to air their opinion about the performance of a branch of government that is meant to serve them. Is it not high time we revisited the laws governing ‘contempt of court’, that shield the judicature from legitimate criticism?” he asked.
Asked about the real cause of government interference in the judiciary, Archbishop Mpundu cited serious flaws in the Republican Constitution. He contended that the executive had taken advantage of constitutional flaws to interfere with the operations of the judiciary.
“The recent controversial judgments of the judicature, in my opinion, are not entirely the fault of judicial officers. It is true that some judicial officers have defied all odds including executive pressure and given fair and right judgments, some of them landmark. The fault, however, lies squarely on the Constitution which does not make for an adequate and clear separation of powers and vests excessive power into the hands of one person - the President,” he reasoned.
“Nature abhors a vacuum. In the Second Republic, the ruling party UNIP was supreme, the legislature was a mere rubberstamp of the almighty Central Committee with its Cabinet. Consequently the judiciary had no option but to adjudicate according to the laws enacted by a rubberstamp Parliament.
“The executive wing of government, which is the most powerful in successive constitutions, has taken advantage of the lacuna which still exists in the present and the NCC Draft Constitution on a clear and adequate separation of powers but endows the person of the President with excessive power to bully the other branches of government with impunity.”
Archbishop Mpundu argued that most of the judicial officers allowed themselves to be compromised because of insecurity.
“Judicial officers in the constitutional chairs of the Chief Justice, judges, Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions, for instance, should enjoy not only autonomy in their discharge of duties but also security of tenure of the office. Some of us were around when justice Skinner was hounded not only out of office but also escorted by cadres to the airport and out of the country for making a ruling that was unpalatable to the political powers-that-be of the day. Which judicial officer wants to have his or her career end in such ignominy?” asked Archbishop Mpundu.
Labels: JUDICIARY, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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We’re sitting on a time bomb, warns Mpundu
By Ernest Chanda
Sat 22 May 2010, 04:02 CAT
LUSAKA Catholic Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu has warned that there will be more violence in the run-up to 2011 general election because cadres have attained the status of militia. And Archbishop Mpundu has said the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) has mutilated the core content of the Mung’omba draft constitution.
In an interview, Archbishop Mpundu said the levels of intolerance exhibited so far could blow the country into flames if cadres are not caged through legal instruments.
“In 1991, the so-called ‘New Political Dispensation’ was announced with flair and fanfare but this ‘New wine’ of plural politics to this day is contained in ‘Old Wineskins’ and no amount of recycling has produced the desired results” Archbishop Mpundu said. “Political intolerance and downright hooliganism is the order of the day. Consequently the cadres have resurfaced with a vengeance.
These cadres have attained the status of militias capable of defying the law and daring the law enforcers by ferrying their members to any part of the country to carry out their evil mission of terrorising and bullying helpless citizens.
“If the just-ended Mufumbwe by-election is anything to go by, the nation has just been treated to a dress rehearsal of the drama that is sure to unfold on the Zambian political stage in the run-up to next year’s elections. The police, ill-trained, ill-equipped, despondent, unmotivated, outnumbered and encumbered by blatant political interference are ill-prepared to protect the public. They can only sit and watch powerlessly the tragedy waiting to unfold right in front of their very eyes and those of the entire nation. This scenario does not augur well for the public’s confidence in the Police Service to protect them and is sure to drive people to seek refuge in their own ‘defence strategies’.”
Archbishop Mpundu said the violence experienced in the Mufumbwe by-election was a national shame that deserved an investigation.
“The so-called ‘peaceful Zambia’ is in fact a tinderbox that can go up in flames any time unless these outlaws called cadres are effectively reigned in and caged through legal instruments. In the Mufumbwe by-election fiasco, innocent citizens have been brutalised and several people have been killed but the authorities don’t see this disaster as serious enough to warrant a speedy inquiry by an independent and professional body in view of bringing the culprits to book and delivering justice to the affected people and bereaved families,” Archbishop Mpundu said. “In civilised nations heads of the relevant government wings responsible for security, law and order would have rolled and resignations demanded by the citizens and tendered. Such decency doesn’t exist in ‘Peace loving Zambia’! The Mufumbwe by-election fiasco is a national shame!”
Archbishop Mpundu said if people lived in fear for too long, they were bound to react and that could lead to civil disobedience.
“From January to March 2002, tension was palpable in this country in the wake of the December 2001 disputed elections and the subsequent electoral petitions. There was tension again in the aftermath of the 2006 elections and some people were killed. Tension was dangerously much higher after the 2008 presidential by-election. We are sitting on a time bomb unless the cadres are outlawed and disbanded and the much needed and long overdue electoral reforms are effected before next year’s elections. Kenya is a very good lesson for us to learn from and those who think that the Zambian people’s patience and love for peace are limitless are burying their heads in the sand ostrich-like. Fear is a very potent emotion. People’s fear of political violence, fear of threats from the political elite who threaten them with unspecified reprisals before, during and after elections can ignite the already explosive situation that would make the post election violence in Kenya appear like a Sunday morning picnic.”
And Archbishop Mpundu has said Zambia may never achieve anything on constitutional reforms because of selfishness from successive regimes.
“On constitutional reforms, the truth is that since Zambia’s independence nearly 46 years ago, successive regimes have not really been interested in a people-driven constitution but in a document that gives the government of the day an easy means to hold on to power,” he said. “The administration that assumed power after the 2001 elections had made it very clear during the campaign that constitutional review was not on the list of its priorities.
Public pressure, however, forced the administration to change its stance and the Mung’omba CRC Constitution Review Commission was appointed.
Unfortunately, the administration hijacked the roadmap, the process and in the end even the core content of the Mung’omba CRC Draft Constitution has been mutilated by the NCC.
“The Church Mother Bodies’ decision not to take part in the NCC has been more than vindicated. After so much time and enormous financial and other resources expended, we are back to where we were in 1991, namely still in the ‘Dark Age’ of our political history, only that the ‘Dark Age’ is much darker this time around. The truth that will free us is that each successive government views the Constitution as its way of holding on or retaining political power instead of regarding it as the most important if not the only tool to engender genuine and sustainable social, economic and political development. The meaning of the experience is that successive regimes including the present one seek to erode our liberties in every way possible. What has obtained at the NCC will no doubt produce a voluminous document purporting to be a new Constitution but in fact it is one from which the soul has been sucked out and its spirit smothered by politicians colluding with unpatriotic citizens.”
Labels: CADRES, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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‘Zambia’s political leadership is losing it’
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sat 22 May 2010, 04:01 CAT
PROFESSOR Nkandu Luo has observed that Zambia’s political leadership is losing it. In an interview, Prof Luo who is former health minister said even if the word leader was used for certain people in the country, Zambia today did not have people worth calling leaders.
“I don’t think that Zambia today has people that if you follow the definition of a leader can be called a leader because leadership is anchored on various principles and one of the principles of leaders is love for others and the second is humility and the third is selflessness. And we don’t see these kinds of things in the people that are referred to as leaders,” Prof Luo said.
“All you see is selfishness, they must get what they get at all costs. So if it means killing a few people, those people have to be killed like we saw in Mufumbwe. I mean people being hacked, we saw a report of children dying because somebody just went and drove where people were celebrating. I think that is unacceptable and yet we do not hear what has happened to these people. Have they been prosecuted? It’s now like the lives of Zambians now don’t mean anything. What means something is the people that are providing leadership for as long as they are in the comfort zone and I think this is totally unacceptable.”
She said the violence currently being experienced in Zambia particularly at election time was very unfortunate. Prof Luo said leaders and all people needed to remember that violence was a big concern for women and in countries where it had broken out, the first victims were women and children.
“What happens when there is violence is that they take advantage and rape women or if people have to run away, the women always want to carry their children with them. The men will run away and the women and children will be casualties. I think it is important for the women of Zambia to take this very seriously with the leadership of the country so that this comes to an end especially in the run-up to the 2011 elections because if it is this bad now, it is likely to get worse in 2011,” she said.
“And I think as women, we need to reflect on this and we need to say to the leadership of the country that whoever is perpetuating violence, and we all know anyway, must bring it to an end because it is not in the interest of anybody. It’s not in the interest of the leadership, it’s not in the interest of the women and children and it is not in the interest of the populace of Zambia.”
Prof Luo also said the language being used by leaders in the country was unfortunate. She said there was a lot of persecution and malignment in the language. Prof Luo cited the recent attacks on Lusaka Catholic Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu.
“I as a Catholic, I was very sad with the kind of the things they talked about Archbishop Mpundu and what was so sad was that some of the perpetrators of Archbishop Mpundu have suffered persecution but because it suits them now, they should persecute another person. I think that is unacceptable,” she said.
Prof Luo said as a Zambian, she was not interested in knowing who was sick and who was suffering from what. She said she was only interested in her bread and butter.
Prof Luo said the leadership of the country needed to tell Zambians what they would do about the health sector, education standards, roads and issues at institutions like University of Zambia (UNZA).
She said she recently returned from Northern Province where the road network was terrible. Prof Luo said the road between Serenje and Nakonde was in a real bad situation and yet leaders were more interested in attacking each other on health issues.
“I am not interested. I want to hear who is going to repair the road and when so that people travelling on that road have a comfortable ride and also reduce the number of accidents on that road. As Zambians we need to make leaders accountable and it is important leaders account for the violence that has taken place and those responsible apologise and make a commitment that it will not happen again,” said Prof Luo.
Politicians in the country have in the last few weeks engaged in personal attacks, questioning each other’s health and calling names. The attacks started before the by-election in Mufumbwe in North Western Province, which was later marred by violence and loss of life.
Labels: INFRASTRUCTURE, LEADERSHIP, NKANDA LUO, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, ROADS, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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A hopeless and shameless campaign against Catholics
By Editor
Sun 28 Mar. 2010, 04:00 CAT
RUPIAH Banda and his friends are behind the attacks and the hate campaign against Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu and the Catholic Church.
There’s no way Rupiah and his friends can divorce themselves from this because they themselves have in the past incited this hatred and today they are not saying anything to stop the madness of their agents who are attacking Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church. Why are they silent in the face of this vicious and malicious campaign against Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church? The simple reason is that they support it; it is their campaign.
We don’t understand the reason behind this hatred for Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church. We can understand feelings of hatred which are grounded in ideology, which stem from the frustrations aroused by the failure against the leadership of the Catholic Church and their capacity to hold their ground against all this malice and calumny against the forces of evil that are trying to tarnish and destroy this image. Their frustration and propaganda that knows no bounds explain this hatred.
The Catholic Church has both the right and duty to participate fully in building a just and peaceful society with all the means at its disposal.
But it will be naïve for anyone to expect Rupiah and his friends not to attack the Catholic Church given what they have been doing against the poor of our country. Today the Catholic Church in our country is seen as the most trusted defender of the poor. It is something new among our people that today the poor see in the Catholic Church a source of hope and a support for their noble struggle against poverty, marginalisation and humiliation; the struggle for their own liberation. And the hope that the Catholic Church encourages is neither naïve nor passive. It is rather a summons from the word of God for the great majority of the people, the poor, that they assume their proper responsibility, that they undertake their own conscietisation. And it is support, sometimes critical support, for their just causes and demands. The hope that they preach to the poor is intended to give them back their dignity, to encourage them to take charge of their own future. In a word, the Catholic Church has not only turned toward the poor, it has made of the poor the special beneficiaries of its mission because “God takes on their defence and loves them”.
The Catholic Church has not only incarnated itself in the world of the poor, giving them hope: it has also firmly committed itself to their defence. The majority of the poor in our country are oppressed and repressed daily by economic and political structures. The terrible words spoken by the prophets of Israel continue to be verified among us. Among us there are those who sell others for money, who sell a poor person for a pair of sandals; those who, in their mansions, pile up violence and plunder; those who crash the poor; those who make the kingdom of violence come closer as they lie upon their beds of ivory; those who join house to house, and field to field, until they occupy the whole land, and are the only ones there.
Amos and Isaiah are not just voices from distant centuries; their writings are not merely texts that are reverently read in the liturgy. They are every day realities. Day by day, we live out the cruelty and ferocity they excoriate.
In this situation of conflict and antagonism, in which just a few persons control economic and political power, the Catholic Church has placed itself at the side of the poor and has undertaken their defence. The Catholic Church cannot do otherwise, for it remembers that Jesus had pity on the multitude. But by defending the poor, it has entered into serious conflict with the powerful who control the politics and wealth of our country.
This defence of the poor in a world deep in conflict has occasioned something new in the recent history of the Catholic Church: persecution. There have been threats, arrests, humiliation of many priests. It is, then, an indisputable fact that the leadership of the Catholic Church is being persecuted in this country. Not any and every priest has been persecuted, not any and every institution of the Catholic Church has been attacked. That part of the Catholic Church has been attacked and persecuted that put itself on the side of the people and went to the people’s defence.
Here again we find the same key to understanding the persecution of the Catholic Church in this country: the poor. Once again it is the poor who bring us to understand what has really happened or what is really happening. That is why the Catholic Church has understood the persecution from the perspective of the poor. Persecution has been occasioned by the defence of the poor. It amounts to nothing other than the Catholic Church’s taking upon itself the load of the poor.
Real persecution has been directed against the poor, the body of Christ in history today. They, like Jesus, are the persecuted servant of God. They are the ones who make up in their own bodies that which is lacking in the passion of Christ. And for that reason when the Catholic Church has organised and united itself around the hopes and the anxieties of the poor, it has incurred the same fate as that of Jesus and of the poor: persecution.
The political dimension of the faith is nothing other than the Catholic Church’s response to the demands made upon it by the de facto socio-political world in which it exists. What they have re-discovered is that this demand is a fundamental one for the faith, and that the Catholic Church cannot ignore it.
That is not to say that the Church should regard itself as a political institution entering into competition with other political institutions, or that it has its own political processes. Nor, much less, is it to say that the Catholic Church seeks political leadership. We are talking of something more profound, something more in keeping with the gospel. We are talking about an authentic option for the poor, of becoming incarnate in their world, of proclaiming the good news to them, of giving them hope, of encouraging them to engage in a liberating praxis, of defending their cause and of sharing their fate.
The Catholic Church’s option for the poor explains the political dimension of the faith in its fundamentals and in its basic outline. And because the Catholic Church has opted for the truly poor, not for the fictitiously poor, because it has opted for those who really are oppressed and repressed, the Catholic Church lives in apolitical world, and it fulfils itself as church also through politics. It cannot be otherwise if the Catholic Church, like Jesus, is to turn itself toward the poor.
The course taken by the Vatican Ambassador to Zambia, Archbishop Nicola Girasoli and the entire leadership of the Catholic Church in Zambia is clearly issued from their faith conviction. The transcendence of the Gospel has guided them in their judgment and in their action. They have judged the social and political situation in our country from the standpoint of the faith. But it is also true, to look at it in another way, that the faith itself has been deepened, that hidden riches of the gospel have been opened, precisely by taking up this stance toward socio-political reality such as it is.
In the first place, they have a better knowledge of what sin is. They know that offending God is death for humans. They know that such a sin really is mortal.
Not only in the sense of the interior death of the person who commits the sin, but also because of the real, objective death the sin produces. Let us remind ourselves of a fundamental datum of the Christian faith: sin killed the Son of God, and sin is what goes on killing the children of God.
We see that basic truth of the Christian faith is the daily situation in our country. It is impossible to offend God without offending one’s brother or sister. The worst offence against God, the worst form of secularism is to turn children of God, temples of the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ in history, into victims of oppression and injustice, into slaves to economic greed, into fodder for political repression. The worst of these forms of secularism is the denial of grace by the objectivisation of this world as an operative presence of the powers of evil, the visible presence of the denial of God.
It is not a matter of sheer routine that we insist once again on the existence in our country of structures of sin. They are sin because they produce the fruits of sin: the deaths of Zambians – the swift deaths brought by oppression or the long drawn out, but no less real, death from structural oppression. That is why they have denounced what in our country has become the idolatry of wealth. No matter how tragic it may appear, the Catholic Church through its entrance into the real socio-political world has learned how to organise, and how to deepen its understanding of, the essence of, sin. The fundamental essence of sin, in our world, is revealed in the death of Zambians.
In the second place they now have a better understanding of what the incarnation means, what it means to say that Jesus really took the human flesh and made himself one with his brothers and sisters in suffering, in tears and laments, in surrender. We are not speaking of a universal incarnation. This is impossible. We are speaking of an incarnation that is preferential and partial:
incarnation in the world of the poor. From that perspective, the Catholic Church will become a church for everybody. It will offer a service to the powerful, too, through the apostolate conversion – but not the other way around, as has often been the case in the past.
In the third place, incarnation in the socio-political world is the locus for deepening faith in the world and in Christ. They believe in Jesus who came to bring the fullness of life and they believe in the living God who gives life in the men and women and wants them truly to live. These radical truths of the faith become really true and truly radical when the church enters into the life and death of these people. Then there is put before the faith of the church, as it is put before the faith of every individual, the most fundamental choice: to be in favour of life or to be in favour of death. We see, with great clarity, that here neutrality is impossible. Either we save the lives of Zambians or we are accomplices to their death. And here, what is most fundamental about the faith is given expression in history: either we believe in a God of life or we serve the idols of death.
When the church inserts itself in the socio-political world, it does so in order to work with it so that from such cooperation life may be given to the poor. In doing so, therefore, it is not distancing itself from its mission, nor is it doing something of secondary importance or something incidental to its missions. It giving testimony to its faith in God; it is being the instrument of the Spirit, the Lord and the giver of life.
This is what Rupiah and his friends need to understand in their attacks and attempts to try and character-assassinate and humiliate Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church. They cannot deny their complicity in all that is happening on this score. They have given those who are attacking Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church unlimited space in the state media they control and direct.
Nobody gets such coverage unless their blessing is given. But this is cheap politics which only goes to show their baseness.
This is a true reflection of the calibre of Rupiah’s leadership. But all this will backfire because it is not Archbishop Mpundu and the Catholic Church that are getting discredited, it is Rupiah and his league whose low calibre and lack of leadership is being exposed. It is actually revealing their desperation.
They are running around in all directions like rats caught in the light. This is not the way to govern a country. This is a recipe for disaster.
Labels: CADRES, CATHOLIC CHURCH, RED CARD CAMPAIGN, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Vatican backs Mpundu
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sat 27 Mar. 2010, 04:02 CAT
THE Vatican Embassy and all Catholic Bishops in Zambia have expressed complete solidarity and support to Lusaka Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu.
In a statement yesterday, The Pope's representative in Zambia Archbishop Nicola Girasoli (left) stated that the Vatican together with all Catholic Bishops of Zambia, the clergy, the male and female religious congregations, the Catholic Laity Institutions of Zambia, in this moment of spiritual suffering of the Archbishop of Lusaka expressed complete solidarity and support to him (Archbishop Mpundu) in his pastoral ministry as Archbishop of Lusaka.
Archbishop Girasoli stated that he had never met anybody or any group of the 'Catholics' claiming to have delivered a petition to The Pope against the Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka.
The Zambia Daily Mail on Friday carried a story entitled 'Pope given ultimatum' where they quoted one Edmond Zulu, group spokesperson for 'some members of the Catholic church' giving an ultimatum to the Vatican to respond to their request to remove Archbishop Mpundu as head of the Lusaka Diocese for allegedly tarnishing its image.
Zulu was quoted as having said that if the Pope failed to discipline Archbishop Mpundu within seven days, they would go ahead and demonstrate at the Vatican Embassy in Lusaka.
But Archbishop Girasoli stated that the so-called petition against Archbishop Mpundu was delivered to the Apostolic Nuncio by the officers of the police service who were doing their appreciated job of protecting the premises of the Vatican Embassy and not directly by the so-called 'concerned Catholics'.
"The people who gathered before the Apostolic Nunciature-Vatican Embassy on Friday, March, 19, 2010 are not known to any Catholic Institution of Zambia," Archbishop Girassoli stated.
He said the Catholic Church as a Universal Church has its own rules and norms based on more then 2,000 years of tradition and were duly collected in the Code of Canon Law.
Archbishop Girasoli stated that any kind of genuine action or claim in the Catholic Church should be sustained by the procedures indicated by Canon Law.
"The Apostolic Nunciature-Vatican Embassy at the beginning of the Holy Week, invites all Catholics of Zambia in union with their Bishops to pray more so that in this beloved country of Zambia can be strengthened the unity through diversity and the mutual respect and dialogue with all different beliefs, cultures and opinions," stated Archbishop Mpundu.
The Lusaka Archbishop has in the recent past come under attack from the government, the MMD and some quarters of society including former president Frederick Chiluba for speaking out on various issues.
In a letter of petition presented to the Vatican Ambassador to Zambia, the alleged concerned Church members from Chainda and Kamanga parishes called for the immediate removal of Archbishop Mpundu for allegedly issuing alarming statements in the press.
They also called on the Pope to issue a public apology on behalf on Catholic Church over Archbishop Mpundu's attitude towards the government.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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We’ll defend our bishops, priests – Mpika Diocese
By Chibaula Silwamba
Wed 24 Mar. 2010, 11:06 CAT
MPIKA Diocese Catholic pastoral council has condemned the MMD over the continued verbal attacks on Lusaka Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu.
In a statement issued at the just-ended pastoral council meeting, leader of the 14 parishes in Mpika Diocese Constantino Kaminsa stated that the insults from Catholic and non-Catholic politicians in the ruling MMD to the top leadership of the Catholic Church were very saddening and insulting to the entire Catholic populace.
“I strongly warn those Catholic MMD cadres who side with the government to stop encouraging and perpetuating wrongdoings, instead they should defend the interest of the poor Zambians who have been living in abject poverty since independence,” Kaminsa stated. “The role of the Catholic Church is to speak for the voiceless, by bringing out issues of injustice and ensure fair play to liberate the captives. There is no such a thing as Ecclesia fund from Rome which Archbishop Mpundu has accessed to beef up the Patriotic Front. This is proper hallucination and total ignorance.”
Archbishop Mpundu was heading Mpika Catholic Diocese before he was transferred to Lusaka.
Kaminsa stated that the Catholic Church members would continue defending their leaders.
“We, the representatives of the entire Christian fraternity of the Diocese of Mpika under the leadership of Bishop Ignatius Chama will forge ahead and defend our bishops and priests who should not be intimidated as they fight for justice and peace of the Zambians for they aim at speaking the truth and nothing but the truth,” Kaminsa stated. “We have unreservedly asked all corrupt Catholic politicians holding public offices to step down as they are a shame to the Catholic Church and its leadership.”
And Caritas Zambia Mpika director Fr Patrick Chibuye stated that Caritas would monitor the voters registration exercise and the 2011 tripartite elections in Serenje, Mpika, Chinsali, Isoka and Nakonde districts.
“This is within our operations and to this effect we want the electorate first and foremost to understand their role, electoral rights and the privilege they have so that they have well-informed minds to effectively come and elect their leaders who are going to make sure that there is good social and economic delivery services and to a greater extent leaders who are going to respect and promote human dignity in their operations,” stated Fr Chibuye.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, MPIKA, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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Chiluba harbours hatred for Catholics – Mpundu
By Ernest Chanda and Masuzyo Chakwe
Thu 04 Mar. 2010, 04:00 CAT
LUSAKA Catholic Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu yesterday charged that Frederick Chiluba's statement about Michael Sata's alleged affair with his sister Petronella was an attempt to get at the Catholic Church for which he harbours a pathological hatred. And Archbishop Mpundu has said there has never been a marriage between his sister and Sata.
Briefing the press at Kapingila House in Lusaka, Archbishop Mpundu said it was very unfortunate that former president Chiluba, in the fight against his ‘sworn political adversary’, had made insinuations with regard to him personally and cast wild aspersions on the Catholic Church.
Archbishop Mpundu said the comments were unacceptable, in extremely bad taste and should be regarded with the disdain they merited.
“Mr Sata is a public figure whose family life cannot be hidden from the public eye for any length of time. Dr Frederick Chiluba was therefore not making any new revelation because what he said was common knowledge long before the birth of the Patriotic Front when Mr Sata was still side by side with him in the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD),” Archbishop Mpundu said.
“The question I asked myself is: Why the so-called revelation which is two decades old at this particular time? Only Dr Frederick Chiluba can tell us but it cannot be denied that in his response to Mr Michael Sata, he has accomplished two objectives which seem dear to him, namely to get at the Catholic Church for which he seems to harbour an almost pathological hatred and has attempted to implicate a Catholic Bishop in what he terms a polygamous 'marriage' thereby bringing into ridicule both the credibility of leadership of the Catholic Church as well as its doctrine on marriage and the holy Eucharist.”
Archbishop Mpundu said there was no marriage between Sata and his sister Petronella that he knew of.
"Dr Chiluba also spoke so much about an alleged marriage between my sister and Mr Sata. There was no such marriage, not that I know of. Like I said in the beginning, all that was a desperate attempt to link Archbishop Mpundu as his sister to the Patriotic Front. And in any case when did single parenting become an issue? We have so many of our mothers who are single parents. Even here where we are I believe there are single mothers. So Dr Chiluba's statement was carefully schemed to discredit the Catholic Church doctrine of the holy Eucharist," Archbishop Mpundu said.
He said the little that Chiluba said about the Catholic doctrine on marriage and the holy Eucharist exposed his total lack of knowledge about the subject.
He quoted late American civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King Jr's saying that, “Nothing in the entire world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious impetuosity!”
Archbishop Mpundu said the Catholic Church believes in and teaches marriage between one man and one woman which once freely contracted and in accordance with all laid down procedures was indissoluble.
“The insinuation that because my sister is alleged to have “contracted marriage” or cohabited with Mr Sata, the Catholic Church condones or even “blesses” it is as speculative in the extreme as it is highly reprehensible.
In the Catholic Church, there isn't one set of laws, rules and regulations for the rich, famous and powerful and another set for the poor and weak non-entities," he said. "In the mid 16th Century, King Henry VIII of England wanted a set of rules especially for himself as King with regard to marriage but when the Pope said an emphatic no, the king broke away from the Church of Rome to form what is now called the Anglican Church. Dr Frederick Chiluba doesn't seem to know or appreciate this historical fact.”
On Chiluba linking him to the Patriotic Front (PF), Archbishop Mpundu said it was a myth in the corridors of political power.
He said during the colonial era, especially the federal administration, the Catholic Church was regarded as “always sympathetic to and siding with the Natives, the black Africans.”
He said in the one-party Second Republic, the situation continued and the Catholic Church was regarded as simply the opposition and subjected to horrendously hateful media editorials from the government-owned and only tabloids allowed.
Archbishop Mpundu said strangely, the same government-owned media to date had little if anything positive to say about the Catholic Church, unless it was said by a minister at a church function.
He reminded the MMD government of how much the UNIP administration accused the Catholic Church of supporting the then opposition political party in 1991.
“Today the MMD is in power and their song is, as one of the most prominent Catholics has put it: “The Catholic Bishops are always on the side of the opposition.” The Catholic Church leadership is not on the side of the opposition but on the side of TRUTH.
When the MMD was in opposition the Catholic Church, Fr Davolli Umberto in particular with his Ichengelo news magazine published in Chibemba, was their champion. Immediately the MMD came to power, the Catholic Church became the “opposition” and enemy number one. Fr Umberto became a “persona non grata” and now it is the turn of Fr Drevensek Miha to be a “persona non grata”! We Zambians have a very short memory indeed. The only reason why the Catholic Church is vilified by any government of the day, British or our “Liberators” who quickly turn into our oppressors is that in season and out of season, the Catholic Church continues to announce the truth.”
Archbishop Mpundu called for a stop to constant attacks on the Catholic Church, saying he was sick and tired of the trend.
“We are sick and tired of listening to it and it is positively revolting. It is sickening because we have explained time and again that we as a church leadership are neither partisan nor interested in political power, not even by proxy,” he said. “Using the words of my brother Bishop, Paul Duffy of Mongu Diocese: “It doesn't make sense, it is totally illogical.” It is sickening because the accusation is a desperate but futile attempt to silence the Catholic Church on matters it has the right and duty to speak about.”
He quoted the authoritative teaching of the Catholic Church which states that, “The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts of the followers of Christ, who, united in Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, press onwards towards the kingdom of the Father and are bearers of a message of salvation intended for men and women. That is why Christians cherish a feeling of deep solidarity with the human race and its history” Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World known as “Gaudium Et Spes” paragraph 1.”
Archbishop Mpundu said the church would continue to be perceived as being political because everything that affected humanity was political.
He said there was little that was not political.
“Everything is political: food security, health care, education of our children, social and economic justice for all. We have a right and duty to call the leaders we put in power to account and that doesn't mean we want political power.
The government should rejoice if people are interested in what they are doing. It is a very bad sign when people remain mute when decisions which affect their lives are made by those they put into office. It is a sign of a dead nation. It is sign of a dictatorship and an enslaved population,” Archbishop Mpundu said.
He said the government of the people, by the people and for the people should and must engage citizens who put them into power in political debate at all times as a matter of right not concession.
Archbishop Mpundu said the electorate who put political leaders into power had the right and duty to hold the same leaders to account, not at the end of their term of office but from the word go.
He said only a very insecure government was afraid of its own shadows, its own people and was allergic to criticism.
Archbishop Mpundu said citizens had every right to comment and critique whatever the government did.
“It is our government and it is there for us not for itself. Every decision the government makes affects our lives in one way or another, for better or for worse. We will, therefore, not be bullied and intimidated into silence!
The accusation of involving in partisan politics is a very weak attempt and it won't work, it has never worked,” he said. “The other attempts, for instance to discredit and/or eliminate individuals will not work either because the church is not just one individual but the Family of God with a mandate to proclaim the Good news. In this it is unstoppable.”
He encouraged Christians to take part in the political process by joining political parties of their own choice.
“We as leadership of the Catholic faithful are not kingmakers who tell our faithful what party or individual to vote for but we do give guidelines as to what kind of leaders they should vote for in order to exercise their choice responsibly as a Christian duty.
We are proud of and cherish the diversity of political opinion and affiliation among the Catholic faithful and that is how it should be,” he said. “We don't believe in the so-called “Christian” political parties because history shows that they have not worked and they don't work.
The Catholic Church is the hardest critic of these so-called Christian parties found in some European countries. It is wonderful to note that the Catholic Church, in spite of the diversity of political opinions and persuasions among its faithful, remains very much united notwithstanding constant attempts by the political powers-that-be to divide it.”
Archbishop Mpundu also observed that in the MMD, a party to which Chiluba belonged and of which he had re-emerged as a very vocal spokesperson, the name of Archbishop Mpundu was sung even more than those of other bishops.
He said he Archbishop Mpundu was regarded as “PF Bishop” number one.
“This is, of course, preposterous but this is what the MMD believes and says. Dr Frederick Chiluba's successor in State House openly accused Archbishop Mpundu of being partisan at a meeting on the matter of the constitution with Catholic Bishops in State House in July 2007, just three weeks before the ordination of Bishop Alick Banda in Solwezi.
He cited “Intelligence sources” that had kept reporting to him that Archbishop Mpundu was a member of the Patriotic Front,” Archbishop Mpundu said. “If this is the type of muck the “Intelligence sources” can come up with, then “Intelligence sources” is a phrase that covers a multitude of sins.
I shudder to think of what else they have manufactured in the past and what they can genetically engineer in future against the government's real or perceived enemies, particularly during the run-up to next year's elections.”
He recalled that on September 15, 2007, there appeared the now famous article entitled “Mpundu laughs” in one of the private daily tabloids.
Archbishop Mpundu said the then president was visibly incensed by the story and he held a press conference dedicated precisely to him, offering a law lecture at State House.
However, he said people needed to understand the background to the president's fury.
Archbishop Mpundu said for late president Levy Mwanawasa, it was not a matter of input on the constitution-making process by Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) as he Archbishop Mpundu explained when he served as the organisation's president.
He said president Mwanawasa saw it as a personal attack on himself as MMD leader and Republican president by a PF member and Catholic Archbishop Mpundu.
Archbishop Mpundu said it was a dramatic display of raw intimidation and acrimony, which led to hateful anti-Catholic utterances by politicians in the print and electronic media and even in the National Assembly debates.
“That is why on 22 October 2007 I called a press conference to reiterate and explain the ZEC stance on the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) and to decry the anti-Catholic rhetoric of the politicians. Our stand has been vindicated by the way this August body has conducted its affairs with regard to the constitution-making process,” he said.
“In February 2008, the late president was to completely stun the Catholic Bishops when he told them at a meeting in State House, “Why do you hate me? I paid for two of you to go to the funeral of your Pope and you still don't like me?” The matter of the constitution is not a personal issue but a national project requiring all stakeholders to be brought on board.”
He said when president Mwanawasa died, ZNBC television organised or was made to organise a live discussion on the legacy of the deceased president and ZEC president Bishop George Lungu requested him to take part.
He said he declined to do so because the late president saw him, a Catholic Archbishop, a supposedly paid-up PF member, as his enemy number one.
Archbishop Mpundu said it would have been hypocritical on his part to appear on ZNBC television to heap praise on someone who sincerely believed the Catholic bishops, and him particularly, hated him.
He said the so-called legacy was a figment of some people's fertile imagination, a creation of a clique of people with vested interests in retaining or ascending to political power.
He said the only legacy he knew was that once elected into power, the leaders become arrogant and intransigent.
“They want us to shut up, sit up and put up. It is on the wings and the ticket of such a non-existent legacy that they were ushered into power and today they are there. Exploiting and adding to the people's emotionally charged grief, they campaigned on “continuing the legacy” of Levy Mwanawasa. No wonder there is little, if any agreement at all among the architects of this fictitious legacy as to what this elusive “legacy” really means,” he said.
Archbishop Mpundu said in the world today, it was widely agreed that the greatest threat to global peace was not poverty or nuclear arms but religious bigotry and fundamentalism.
He said a look at what was going on in the Middle East, the suicide bombings carried out in the belief that death in the process of killing or trying to kill an enemy one who is opposed to one's religion guarantees the crown of martyrdom.
Archbishop Mpundu said the relations between two neighbouring nuclear powers of India and Pakistan convinced one of how precarious the world stage was right now.
He said the African continent had examples of religious extremism and its lethal consequences in countries like Algeria, Nigeria, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan.
Archbishop Mpundu said should some religious radicals get hold of weapons of mass destruction, then only God could protect people from an Armageddon.
He said only some months ago, the nation listened in bewilderment as a minister of religion who also happened to be the information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha on the floor of the National Assembly, departed from his allotted task of telling the nation the root cause of political cadre violence and how to arrest the situation.
“He went on to attack the Catholic Church, not just in Rwanda but all over the world, accusing it of masterminding the genocide in Rwanda, telling the world that our faithful are Catholic but not Christian! He ridiculed the Catholic Church and made the Catholic faithful in this country, objects of scorn and hatred for the rest of the Zambian population,” he said.
Archbishop Mpundu said the Catholic faithful were still apprehensive and very angry.
He said some of them feared for their lives and were afraid of being assaulted by those who may have been led to think that the Catholic Church was “murder incorporated” as Dan Brown's notorious The Da Vinci Code insinuates.
Archbishop Mpundu said many wanted to stage a peaceful countrywide demonstration but were persuaded not to resort to such action.
He said it would have been playing into the hands of the government who would have deployed soldiers with orders to shoot and later blame the demonstrators as having provoked the shooting.
“To date this man, a reverend pastor, the preacher of hatred in the National Assembly against four million Zambian Catholics, remains unrepentant and in his privileged government position. During Dr Chiluba's administration, one of his senior ministers called the Catholic Bishops liars after they published a Pastoral Letter,” he said.
“We demanded an apology from him but we never got it. Only Dr Chiluba apologised on his behalf in private but the apology was never published.
There are many Catholics in the MMD and many Catholics voted for the present government and the President but the government they voted for has remained silent in the face of their humiliation and vilification. To date, we have not heard any word from the highest authorities in the land about this deplorable affair.”
Archbishop Mpundu said last week, the country was witness to Chiluba's utterances.
“Isn't he a preacher of some standing and in high demand to preach at services in some churches? Wasn't he anointed as soon as he went into State House? Didn't he stun everyone by waking up one day and declaring Zambia a “Christian” nation?
Evangelical, Council of Churches in Zambia or Catholic Christianity? And making sure that the declaration was put in the Constitution Preamble? He, from a vantage point, poured scorn on Catholic doctrine and the most sacred of practices, maligned its leaders and got away with it,” he said.
“We Catholics don't go about burning cars, destroying buildings and property or threatening death to those who publicly disparage our beliefs. Our faithful feel humiliated and once again are very angry.
They are even angrier because we don't seem to have the machinery and financial muscle of our aggressors with their command of the mass media to swiftly counter such spiteful attacks. I urge them to remain focused and not to allow themselves to be disturbed by statements meant to mislead and discourage them. They know what we believe in and what our faith asks of us so they should not be worried.”
He said Chiluba's remarks concerning Catholic marriage, the holy Eucharist and the insinuations were not just a casual and off the cuff stuff.
Archbishop Mpundu said the remarks were a carefully planned and craftily accomplished phase of an orchestrated campaign against the Catholic Church which was wrongly perceived as the obstacle to certain people's ascendancy to or retention of political power.
“In a way we are quite flattered to be attributed such tremendous power which we don't have and certainly which we don't want to have. Jesus rejected all power and yet it is in His powerlessness that He redeemed the world,” he said.
He said Chiluba's unwarranted remarks were a political strategy to attempt to silence the Catholic Church by discrediting it and thereby eroding its credibility.
However, Archbishop Mpundu said it was a futile exercise because it would not work.
“Our Catholic faithful and many people of Zambia can see through this very clearly and I dare say that they are not at all amused. The campaign for the 2011 general and presidential elections started with the demise of the previous president. It should not be surprising if similar or even worse attacks come our way in the run-up to 2011 elections,” Archbishop Mpundu said.
“Our faithful should not be afraid because the church's weapon is the greatest and deadliest, namely the truth. Truth is another name for Jesus Christ who said He was The Way, The Truth and The Life. The truth will set us free. It is this weapon that our antagonists are afraid of and they don't want us to proclaim it, but woe to us if we don't proclaim the good news.”
He said two weeks ago, the church entered the Holy Season of Lent which was a special time of grace in which they examined their lives and turn to God for forgiveness.
“We repeat together time and again the words of our Lord in the prayer of “Our Father” which He gave us: “Lord forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” On Good Friday we shall hear once again the words of Jesus on the Cross as He breathes his last: “Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”
This is our prayer and in it lies at the foundation of our Christian life of faith, hope and love,” said Archbishop Mpundu.
Labels: CATHOLIC CHURCH, CHILUBA, TELESPHORE MPUNDU
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