A Discernment and Apostasy watch site for African Saints.
Prove all things..(1 Thesa.5:21)
Test Spirits..(I John 4:1)
Like the Bereans, check whether things are so(Acts 17:11)
The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops
(ZCCB) together with leaders of the umbrella body of Protestant
Churches, the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) have vehemently
opposed the establishment of a new government ministry to be known as
the Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs.
Opposing the government's move, the two Church bodies said they found
the creation of a new ministry of religious affairs unnecessary and
imprudent.
“In view of the various financial and economic challenges our country
is currently facing, we neither see the creation of the said ministry
as a top priority nor a prudent decision. After all, we believe that
Zambians want their country to be a democracy rather than a theocracy,”
the statement reads in part. On these grounds, CCZ and ZCCB stand
opposed to the creation of the new ministry
Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu, last week appointed Reverand
Godfridah Sumaili, a Pentecostal pastor of Lusaka’s Bread of Life Church
as the new head of the ministry of religious affairs. Sumaili was
subsequently nominated Member of Parliament, by Lungu. The Zambian
parliament still has to ratify the appointment and the creation of the
new ministry. Observers in Lusaka seemed to regard the ratification as a
formality.
Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) Executive Director, Reverend
Pukuta Mwanza, on behalf of Pentecostal Churches, last month, praised
President Lungu’s initiative saying it would “promote Christian values
and give more meaning to the declaration of Zambia as a Christian
nation.”
On 4 September, while visiting State Lodge’s Divine Mercy Catholic
Parish, in Lusaka, President Lungu told parishioners that the Church in
Zambia should not be threatened by the creation of the ministry of
religious affairs. He said the ministry would harmonise State-Church
Relations.
Former President Frederick Chiluba in 1997 established the Religious
Affairs desk with Rev. Peter Chintala as Deputy Minister at Statehouse.
The religious desk suffered because of unclear terms of reference and
its inability to garner support and consensus from Churches. Eventually,
it was quietly phased out.
(Fr. Paul Samasumo, Vatican Radio)
Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va
Find below the full statement of the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) and the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB). A STATEMENT ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL OF CHURCHES IN
ZAMBIA (CCZ) AND THE ZAMBIA CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS (ZCCB) ON THE
PROPOSED CREATION OF THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL GUIDANCE AND RELIGIOUS
AFFAIRS
Dear brothers and sisters, fellow citizens, the people of God. As
leaders of the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) and the Zambia
Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB), formerly ZEC, we hereby wish to
state our position with regard to the proposed creation of the Ministry
for National Guidance and Religious Affairs. Firstly, we believe that the common denominator and
our mutual rallying point between the Church and the State is that we
are both concerned about the common good and the well-being of God’s
people. As such, we see the need for the two to trust each other, engage
in genuine dialogue and work as partners in promoting the development
of its peoples, especially the poor. This requires sustaining a healthy
Church-State relationship, with the Government not favouring only those
groups that praise every decision it makes and every plan it follows. On
our part, we shall continue to be non-partisan and respectful while
playing a vital role of being a voice of conscience calling a nation to
order, especially in the aftermath of the 2016 general elections that
have incurred on our people scars of violence, division, tribalism and
hatred. 2 Secondly, and notwithstanding our readiness to
collaborate with the government of the day in our common pursuit for
national development, our position is that the Church and State should
be and continue to remain separate. In view of the various financial and
economic challenges our country is currently facing, we neither see the
creation of the said ministry as a top priority nor a prudent decision.
After-all, we believe that Zambians want their country to be a
democracy rather than a theocracy. Not only that, we believe that as
churches and other faith communities, we have thus far been able to
exercise our God-given mandate and meaningfully contribute towards
national development without having such a ministry. Therefore, both CCZ
and ZCCB stand opposed to the creation of the above mentioned ministry. Thirdly, we stand by the biblical principle as
clearly taught by our Lord Jesus Christ, who declared: "Well, then, give
to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God"
(Mark 12:17). Again, our Lord and founder defined our prophetic mandate
when he proclaimed: “The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he
has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to
proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the
downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour” (Luke 4:18; Cf.
Isaiah 61:1-2). In other words, the Church derives its authority,
mission and structure from God and this must not be confused with
temporal order of political governance. Fourthly, we take this opportunity to reassure our
membership that, we the said Church Mother Bodies, will not be
intimidated in exercising our God-given mission of being the conscience
of the nation and exercising our prophetic ministry of calling for
social justice following the example of our Founder, Jesus Christ. At
the same time, we commit ourselves to continue being credible and
reliable instruments for promoting a culture of dialogue,
reconciliation, justice, unity, development, respect for divergent views
and peace in Zambia.
May God bless you all and bless our nation Zambia
Signed on 19th September 2016 Most Rev. T-G Mpundu, ZCCB President Rev. Dr. Alfred Kalembo, CCZ President
Immorality and corruption on the rise, say church leaders
By Anthony Kunda, Ecumenical News International, in Lusaka, Zambia/ January 1, 2000
Eight
years after President Frederick Chiluba officially declared Zambia to
be a "Christian nation," the declaration is largely meaningless,
according to church leaders and officials. On December 30, 1991,
Zambia's newly installed president declared this small, southern African
nation a Christian state, despite opposition from some Christian and
Muslim leaders. Prominent church officials interviewed by Ecumenical
News International (ENI) this week said that the declaration had become
increasingly "hollow," as Zambia faces mounting social, political and
economic problems, including widespread corruption. Archbishop John
Mambo, head of a 1.5 million-member Protestant denomination, the Church
of God in Zambia, said there had been a rise in "immorality and
corruption in our country which puts a question mark on our being called
a Christian nation."
Archbishop Mambo told ENI: "There is very little to show
that we are a Christian nation with so much wrong-doing, both in
private and public life. There is nothing to distinguish us from secular
nations. This is sad."
Joe Komakoma, a priest and executive secretary of the
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), agreed that immorality
had increased, especially among government leaders.
Komakoma said leaders were amassing wealth in dubious
ways, leaving ordinary people uncared for. "Lust for money, power and
social privileges has been made to look like a virtue. This has resulted
in the worsening of social indicators, high poverty levels, widening of
the gap between the rich and the poor, endemic corruption and a sharp
rise in crime."
Thomas Lumba, a pastor and national director of the
2-million-member Evangelical Fellowship churches, also said that rising
poverty was at odds with Zambia's status as a Christian nation.
Speaking at a function to celebrate the eighth
anniversary of the declaration, Lumba said it was disappointing that
there was almost nothing in the public life of many Zambians to indicate
that the country had been declared Christian. He also drew attention to
rising poverty affecting most Zambians. Celebrations of the 8th
anniversary of the declaration attracted only a small following. The
organizers, including the deputy minister for religious affairs, Peter
Chintala, had expected more than half-a-million people to attend the
main celebration at Lusaka's agriculture and commercial showgrounds. But
only about 10,000 people had come. Zambia's vice president Lieutenant
General Christon Tembo, who stood in for President Chiluba at the event,
admitted that so far the declaration had remained largely theoretical.
"We have blueprints on paper. But we need to concretize this
declaration." He said church leaders would meet government officials
soon to draw up a program with a definite direction for the nation to
follow."
We should have a Christian orientation in all fields at
all levels, if we are to truly turn Zambia into a Christian nation," he
said.
But the Christian nation declaration celebrations have
long been fraught with controversy. Leaders of the opposition political
parties were not invited to the latest celebrations. Dean Mungomba,
vice-chairman of an alliance of seven opposition parties, denounced the
celebrations as deceitful, treacherous, and a one-party affair. "They
[government leaders] cannot invite any opposition leaders because they
know the crimes they have committed against the citizens of this country
in the name of Christ."
We can't deal with chaps who plundered the wealth of
this nation in the name of God. They do not qualify to declare this
country a Christian nation."
Alick Mugala, media liaison officer of the National
Islamic Propagation Centre, said: "Declaring Zambia a Christian nation
puts one religion in a superior position to others, and that is not
fair."
According to the World Churches Handbook, published in
London, about 4.6 million of Zambia's population of 10 million are
Christians. The Roman Catholic Church in Zambia, which is the biggest,
has about 1.6 million members, according to the handbook. Zambia also
has small Muslim and Hindu communities.
What Chiluba did after declaring Zambia a Christian
Nation
By Billy Kapinga Zambians are so gullible and naive or must I say we
have a tendency to forget easily.
On 29th December 1991, second Republican President
FTJ Chiluba declared Zambia a Christian nation; did our political leaders at
the time lead a God fearing and exemplary life? No ways!
The country witnessed the worst plunder never
experienced before under the so called born again President.
No wonder the Catholics opposed the declaration of
Zambia as a Christian nation because that was a ploy to hoodwink and cow the nation
into total submission as the plunderers defiled and raped our beloved nation.
President Lungu has declared October 18th as the day
of fasting, repentance and reconciliation……and we praise God for that.
However, we are yet to see if our leaders will
refrain from corrupt activities, verbal and physical violence, slander,
drunkenness etc for all these aren’t in conformity with Christianity.
Frederick Chiluba, Infamous Zambia Leader, Dies at 68
Frederick Chiluba, the first democratically elected president of Zambia,
a man whose image as a defender of civil liberties was later tarnished
by his efforts to suppress political opposition and accusations that he
used millions of dollars of public money on his wardrobe and other
extravagances, died Saturday in Lusaka. He was 68.
He suffered from chronic heart problems. His death was confirmed by his spokesman, Emmanuel Mwamba.
The
son of a copper miner, Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba — a diminutive man
barely five feet tall — was Zambia’s president from 1991 to 2002. His
ascent to high office was for a time considered a heartening success
story in a poor, landlocked nation of 13 million people in southern
Africa.
He
left secondary school before graduation and was working as a low-paid
bookkeeper when he joined a union, rising through the ranks in the labor
movement until he became chairman of the Zambia Congress of Trade
Unions in 1974.
The
nation had won independence 10 years earlier. Kenneth Kaunda, a hero of
the liberation struggle, was Zambia’s first president, but his
single-party, socialist rule was an economic failure. In 1981, he jailed
Mr. Chiluba and other labor leaders without charges after they
instigated wildcat strikes.
A
judge ruled the detentions unconstitutional, and after three months
behind bars, Mr. Chiluba emerged emboldened. He would eventually forge a
coalition of unions, civic groups and churches to form the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy to challenge Mr. Kaunda at the polls.
A
personable man with oratorical gifts, Mr. Chiluba was a born-again
Christian and often used biblical references in his speeches. He was
also a passionate advocate of democracy, and in 1991, when Mr. Kaunda
finally agreed to multiparty elections, Mr. Chiluba won the presidency
with nearly 76 percent of the vote.
Photo
Frederick Chiluba's presidency did little to address Zambia's poverty.Credit
Salim Henry/Associated Press
In
his first address, the new president said, “The Zambia we inherit is
destitute — ravaged by the excesses, ineptitude and straight corruption
of a party and a people who have been in power for too long.” He
lamented that after 27 years of Mr. Kaunda’s leadership, “Now the
coffers are empty. The people are poor. The misery endless.”
Mr.
Chiluba was indeed inheriting a fiscal mess, and though he steered the
country toward a free-market economy, the government remained dependent
on foreign aid, and the average Zambian was still mired in poverty.
The remarkable transformation seemed to come in Mr. Chiluba rather than in his nation.
The
Chiluba government was notably corrupt, and the president appeared to
regard himself as irreplaceable. In 1996, he barred Mr. Kaunda from
running against him, changing the Constitution to preclude candidates
born outside Zambia. He even attempted to deport Mr. Kaunda to Malawi.
In
2001, Mr. Chiluba again toyed with rewriting the law, this time to
allow himself a third term in office. But by then, the president’s
reputation as a reformer had been replaced by one far less flattering.
Civic groups and churches rose up in opposition and thwarted the plan. Instead, Mr. Chiluba anointed his former vice president, Levy Mwanawasa, as his successor, presuming that incriminating secrets would remain concealed.
But
the new president, narrowly elected, instead decided to shine a light
on public corruption. Mr. Chiluba would soon be charged with stealing
$500,000 of public funds. He additionally was sued in a civil action by
Zambia’s attorney general, who decided to try the case in Great Britain,
where the former president was said to have laundered millions of
dollars he plundered while in office.
Testimony
in the civil matter was astonishing. Zambia’s anti-corruption task
force had seized much of Mr. Chiluba’s wardrobe, including 349 shirts,
206 jackets and suits, and 72 pairs of size-6 shoes, many of them
personalized with his initials affixed in brass. The heels added two
inches to his stature.
Photo
Mr. Chiluba was accused of stealing to support shopping sprees, said to involve suitcases full of cash, for items like shoes.Credit
Mariella Furrer for The New York Times
Mr.
Chiluba spent more than $500,000 in a single clothing store, Boutique
Basile, in Geneva. Its owner testified that garments were sometimes paid
for with suitcases full of cash.
“The
president,” unlike the emperor, “needs to be clothed,” Justice Peter
Smith of the High Court said in 2007, ruling that Mr. Chiluba owed
Zambia $57 million. Much of the money, Justice Smith said, had been
funneled into an intelligence agency bank account in London “set up
primarily to steal government money.” Justice Smith said the former
president “should be ashamed,” pointing out that while he was
accumulating handmade shoes and silk pajamas, many Zambians “could not
afford more than one meal a day.”
Mr. Chiluba, who never appeared in court, refused to recognize Justice Smith’s verdict, calling it “racist” and “obscene.”
The
criminal proceedings, held in Lusaka, were less sensational. They
dragged on for six years, frequently delayed by Mr. Chiluba’s ill
health. The former president denied stealing any public funds, saying
instead that he had received millions in gifts from “corporate
interests” and “well-wishers” whose identities he would not reveal
because of “the golden rule of anonymity.”
In 2009, a magistrate acquitted Mr. Chiluba,
ruling that however large his fortune, the money could not be traced to
missing government funds. Celebrating the news, the former president
said, “The devil has tried to put the stigma of a thief on me, but God
has dealt with the devil.”
By
then, Levy Mwanawasa had died in office. His successor, Rupiah Banda,
has since disbanded much of the nation’s anticorruption apparatus. Mr.
Banda has referred to Mr. Chiluba as a “damn good president” and
credited him with bringing political freedoms to the country.
Mr.
Chiluba will be accorded a state funeral, the government announced. He
is survived by his wife, Regina, and, according to local reports, 10
children.
The Transition of Ugandan MPs From Honorable Members of Parliament
(MPs) to Diabolical Members of the Pig Family(Mpigs) : MP burial to 67.7
million shillings
The
rising anger against MPs, illustrated by the dropping of blue and
yellow-painted piglets at parliament last week, has raised fears the
collision course could accelerate into a confrontation.
A legislator told The Observer yesterday
that she now fears to introduce herself as a member of parliament in
some quarters. Security at parliament has been tightened following
reports that a group of people planned to storm the building.
There is a growing feeling in the public
that legislators, on both sides of the political divide, are living
greedy and ostentatious lives while being insensitive to the plight of
the people who voted for them.
Among other factors, the current outrage
has been triggered by MPs demanding cars at the cost of Shs 150m each;
lavish expenditure on travel, and VIP burial expenses estimated at Shs
68 million per funeral.
This perception has been aggravated by a
couple of MPs who are championing what is perceived as opportunistic
political projects such as Anne Maria Nankabirwa’s Kyankwanzi district
resolution urging President Museveni to rule beyond 2021, and Kafeero
Ssekitooleko’s age-limit bill.
On the other hand, MPs point out that
they deserve all the facilitation they get, just like other public
servants, to enable them per- form their roles efficiently. Moreover,
given the breakdown in service delivery and poverty, MPs spend much of
the money they earn on their voters through handouts, school fees,
funeral expenses and ambulances, to mention but a few.
That is why some of them smell foul play
in the public discontent against them. They suspect rival institutions,
particularly those whose officials have come under scrutiny over misuse
of public resources, are behind the negative sentiments.
“We do not rule this out,” said Nabilah Naggayi, the Kampala woman MP.
“Why is it that of all the institutions that are given public money, the people are targeting us?”
MISPLACED ANGER
Chris Obore, the director of
communication and public affairs at parliament, told The Observer
yesterday that the public anger against parliament, while justified, is
misplaced.
“If the people are concerned about the
expenditure of parliament, who is telling people how the ministry of
works spends its money or how the ministry of health spends its budget?
We need to make this comparison so that the people can know whether
parliament is being wasteful or not.”
Over the years, parliament’s expenditure
has been rising in part because of the increase in the number of MPs
and additional costs such as security. Between 2011 and 2016,
parliament’s budget has almost tripled from Shs 158bn to Shs 444bn.
Yet it remains unclear whether the rise
in the number of MPs and in parliament’s expenditure, has led to more
efficient representation. Eshban Kwesiga of Parliament Watch, an
organisation that tracks the performance of parliament, said they
intended to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the performance of
parliament to determine its effectiveness.
DUMB PEOPLE?
Frank Gashumba, a social critic and
confessed sup- porter of Dr Kizza Besigye, told The Observer yesterday
that the selfishness of the MPs should be an eyeopener to the voters.
“MPs are not the problem. The problem is
the dumb people that keep voting them. We should shift our focus now to
the voters so that they become hungry and angry towards the MPs they
voted,” said Gashumba.
Gashumba added that he had launched a
campaign to mobilize 100,000 signatures that will be taken to President
Museveni, who will be expected to rein in the MPs.
“The president fears numbers; so, when we take these signatures, he will be forced to act,” Gashumba said.
Ahmed Kiyimba, a businessman, posted on
his facebook page on September 20: “I think it’s high time the whole
country (MPs and non MPs) do some soul-searching and find out what we
really want, just yesterday all those MPs were ordinary citizens, so
whatever they are doing incidentally represents what most of the society
thinks and we’ll have the same result if we swap the individuals
tomorrow as long as they are drawn from the current Ugandan
society....Food for thought.”
The opposition, in trying to deflect
this anger, has tried to save some face with FDC, the biggest opposition
party in parliament, suggesting that MPs be given car loans, as opposed
to free cash. Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, the FDC spokesman and MP for
Kira municipality, told journalists that he intends to table a motion to
this effect.
But Ibrahim Kasozi, the Makindye East
MP, labeled Ssemujju’s move as “opportunistic,” doubting whether he will
garner the needed support.
“That is a cheap move that will not work,” Kasozi said of his FDC colleague.
Prof Morris Ogenga Latigo, the former
leader of opposition, told The Observer on Wednesday that parliament
needs to do some soul searching.
“Parliament should retreat from
controversies and do things that people perceive that they should be
doing. Sometimes you don’t have to do things on your account,” he said.
SSEMUJJU VS NSEREKO
The pigs’ saga has also sown seeds of
disharmony amongst fellow MPs while drawing in the media. In various
media inter- views, Muhammad Nsereko, the Kampala central MP, has
accused FDC of being behind the pigs protest at parliament. The
accusation has not gone down well with FDC whose spokesman Ssemujju has
in turn accused Nsereko of grandstanding.
“Nsereko has an exaggerated sense of
himself. He is angry that people have discovered who he is,” Ssemujju
told us earlier in the week.
Sources in parliament told us that Latif
Ssebaggala, Kawempe North MP who is also the Imam of parliament, has
been trying to reconcile the two MPs but to no avail. In the crossfire
between parliament and the public is the media, which has come under
severe attack from the legislators.
MPs accuse the media of amplifying and
exaggerating the benefits of MPs, particularly the vehicles, hence
whipping up public sentiments. During a heated plenary session last
week, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga suggested that editors may be summoned
before the parliamentary committee on rules and discipline to explain
why their media organisations report unfavourably about parliament.
On social media and other platforms,
some people have suggested that the kind of politics obtaining in Uganda
today is a perfect reincarnation of the Orwellian politics, described
in the 1945 classic book, Animal Farm by George Orwell. In the book, the
animals chased away the farm managers whom they accused of
mistreatment.
After the pigs took charge as leaders,
other animals soon or later realized there was no difference between the
old and new leadership. In one of the quotes from the book that have
been do- ing rounds on social media, Squealer, one of the pigs, tries to
defend the leaders.
“Comrades!”Squealer cried,“You do not
imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness
and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike
them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our
health. Milk and apples contain substances absolutely necessary to the
well-being of a pig. We pigs are brain- workers. The whole management
and organisation of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are
watching over your welfare. It is for yoursake that we drink that milk
and eat those apples.”
Perhaps MPs, some people concluded,
deserve all the apples and milk (perks) they are getting so that they
can serve their voters better.
In response to negative press
coverage, speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga has assigned parliament’s
committee on rules, privilege and principle to investigate journalists
and consider charging offenders with “contempt of parliament.”
What a waste of time and abuse of power!
It’s absurd that some MPs went as far as suggesting that journalists
should swear an oath before they are allowed to cover parliament.
This level of self-importance is, in
fact, what the public is reacting to when they criticize their MPs. And
when the journalists reflect the public’s sentiments, they are only
performing their duty.
MPs are not beyond criticism. In fact,
no one is. It is also the right of Ugandans to know how taxpayers’ money
is being spent in parliament because they pick the bill.
While they might be powerless to stop
expenditure they find objectionable – like funding two speakers and
dozens of MPs to attend a conference in the United States – it’s still
their right to speak out against it through the media. Any attempt to
take that away, while hiding behind wild conspiracy theories, smacks of
arrogance and intolerance.
It is particularly revealing that the
working relationship between journalists and parliament has soured
during the current speaker’s stewardship. Under Ms Kadaga’s watch,
journalists have been chased from parliament for writing news stories
she didn’t like.
Still under her watch, parliament has
moved to eliminate journalists who have stayed on the beat for more than
five years and later those without degrees. These moves, including
those that appear well-meaning, have not been engineered in good faith.
They have been inspired by the urge to control journalists’ work in a
bid to entertain only that content that the speaker can tolerate.
This is not to suggest in any way that
journalists don’t make mistakes. When they do, parliament has a team of
former journalists working as communications officials whose job it is
to respond in the media whenever their employer has been wronged or
misrepresented.
There is no need for an institution that
should be championing press and other freedoms to resort to draconian
measures to gag the media.
Captain Gertrude Njuba, the State House
Land directorate head, says Ugandans should stream onto streets in
Kampala and demonstrate against the 10th Parliament’s lavish spending on
cars and funerals.
In an interview with The Observer, Njuba
adds that dropping piglets within the precincts of parliament by the
Jobless Brotherhood youths was a primitive way of showing their
displeasure with parliament.
“I have always been against any defiant
acts. But today, I would willingly join the demo against the lavish
expenditure of the MPs if anybody apart from Dr Kizza Besigye called
me,” Njuba notes.
Njuba is the first government official
to publicly criticise parliament since the controversy over its spending
spilled into public view.
Njuba was particularly angered by the
alleged Shs 2bn spent on the MPs’ recent trip to the US to attend the
Ugandan North American Association (UNAA) convention. However, Speaker
Rebecca Kadaga vehemently disputes that figure.
“I have been admiring opposition
politicians including Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda [Kira municipality MP] who
have been telling us that they stand for the poor people’s causes. Now
that they have also turned on their heels, at one time they will be
described by a creature worse than a pig; for me, I am for a mass
demonstration against them,” Njuba adds.
However, Chris Obore, the director for communication and public affairs at Parliament, described Njuba as ‘populist.’
Obore told The Observer on Saturday that the state honours every person who has made a contribution and MPs were among them.
“She [Njuba] has worked in State House
for many years, has she ever rejected any benefits from government
including her salary?” Obore wondered.
“As an elderly woman who has worked in government, she should desist from being a populist.”
