Zambian Churches appeal for peace to quell political violence

(Vatican Radio) Christian church leaders in Zambia are calling for review of electoral policy and an end to political violence surrounding the recent by-elections in the southern African nation. Three Church umbrella organizations, the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), have released the following statement:
“As people who have a God given mandate of exercising the prophetic mission in our nation and in our time, we cannot tolerate such abominable and immoral acts being committed right before our very eyes. Our nation today, stands at the crossroads and we are in a crisis. We face many challenges related with governance and survival, among which, are increasing levels of poverty among the majority of our people, a pervading cancer of rampant corruption, escalating youth unemployment, the growing gap between the rich and the poor, an education system that is falling apart, a poor health service delivery coupled with the unclear constitution making process, the gagging or muzzling of people’s freedoms, the arrests of the opposition party leaders and human rights violations. As Zambians, we all need to examine our conscience, seek the truth and work towards bringing back hope to our people.

In our joint statement issued on 27^th February 2013, we appealed for calm in the aftermath of the violence and the unfortunate death of Mr. Harrison Chanda in the run up to the by-elections in Livingstone which were prudently postponed by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ). We also proposed that instead of playing the usual political game of finger pointing and name calling, time had come for all Zambians to seriously engage in a process of soul-searching and discernment. Our politics have sunk so low as we recently experienced loss of life during political campaigns. This development is unacceptable and must not be tolerated. Indeed, is this the level our politics has come to - of killing one another just for greed and want of political office? We do not want our democracy to go that route where instead of preserving life and protecting the citizens, our people risk death during times of heightened political activities.
We must create a new democratic dispensation. Our democracy came at high cost and we should all endeavor to protect it and help sustain this philosophy of governance.
We should all seek to come together to safeguard and promote the culture of peaceful, genuine and democratic elections in this great nation which for many years now has been the pride and envy of this region and the continent of Africa.


By-elections
We are seeing a strange phenomenon that raises great concern, with the rate at which by-elections in our country are being held. Whilst we acknowledge the fact that the Zambian laws provide for the holding of by-elections to fill a vacant seat in Parliament, or at local government levels, we are seriously questioning the justification and authenticity of many of these parliamentary by-elections. Even though these elections are being held within the provisions and confines of the law, we are also increasingly seeing more and more by-elections being instigated or motivated by greed, individual interests and a selfish propensity for political dominance by the ruling party and the desire for ministerial positions by the MPs that are lured into resignations from their political parties, or that in case such MPs were expelled, they would still be adopted to recontest their seats on another ticket. Also we question the integrity of these by-elections. Who is really behind the current spell of elections? What value are these by-elections adding to our political environment? Why are our leaders so ready to waste such colossal sums of money in the campaigns whilst our hospitals still face a critical shortage of medical staff, equipment and essential drugs? We question the integrity of those who are crossing the floor in parliament for the sake of receiving political favors or appointments. We therefore call upon our leaders to prudently exercise the power that the Zambian people have entrusted in them. Many of our hospitals, schools and other service centres cannot offer quality services due to inadequate funding. This is because they are subordinated to wrong priorities as everyone seems to be pre-occupied with by-elections.
At the same time, while we acknowledge the fact that the Republican President has the constitutional power to appoint any Member of Parliament as Cabinet or Deputy Ministers, we urge the government to dialogue with the leaders of Political Parties before such appointments are made. In other words, care must be taken to avoid creating an impression of political poaching which often leads to expulsions of those who accept the appointments because their parties do not approve of them. We question as to how many deputy ministers the government can appoint. The increasing number of appointments of cabinet deputy ministers eventually leads to a bloated cabinet which is what the people of this country have always rejected in preference for a lean Cabinet as promised by the PF government.

We pray that the new constitution, which is being drafted, will provide for mechanisms that will prevent unnecessary by-elections. In fact, we believe that the efficacy and legitimacy of the current PF government will be tested on how quickly they can deliver a new Republican Constitution which will cure all the lacunas which seem to be exploited by those whose only interest is either to gain or cement their continued stay in office. We are deeply concerned about the new constitution making process because of a number of issues that have not been addressed such as the timeframe, and the mode of adoption of the final constitution.”

The Churches conclude their statement with an appeal to the Government and political leaders “to avoid giving threats and using decrees in leading the nation. The government should use the instruments of power to serve and protect the citizenry of this country and promote peace and meaningful dialogue,” the statement says, and promote the interests of the poor.

The statement appeals to the sense of “fairness” of the Zambian police and media to quiet tensions. It also challenges Christian men and women clergy in Zambia to be prophetic voices for peace:

“Do not abuse the pulpit for partisan politics and do not ever fall prey to political enticements and corruption. Do not be afraid to preach the truth in love and we urge you to continue to call the powers that be to do greater justice to your flock and those outside of your assemblies, parishes and congregations. Never tire at proclaiming the message of truth, justice, peace, love, unity, forgiveness and reconciliation. As St. Paul exhorts us: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9).