Press Statement
12th June, 2024
The continued use of humiliating language by the Patriotic Front leadership towards the Presidency is unfortunate and must cease immediately.
It is particularly disheartening to see President Hakainde Hichilema being portrayed as if he is begging for a meeting with former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu. We remind those who demean the President’s genuine effort to extend an olive branch that belittling such a positive gesture, especially one made in response to a request from the Church, is unfair.
The President expressed his willingness to meet Mr. Lungu in response to a request from Reverend Patson Banda of the Reformed Church of Zambia.
Reverend Banda mentioned that many people would be pleased to see the two leaders working together for the country’s betterment. The President had the liberty to decline this request, as he has no personal issues to resolve with Mr. Lungu. It is Mr. Lungu who has issues to address with the people of Zambia, who claim he betrayed their trust during his tenure. Mr. Lungu and some of his family members are accused of amassing unrealistic wealth and are under pressure to prove their innocence through established judicial processes.
Despite these issues, the President accepted the Church’s request out of goodwill and respect, hoping to foster national unity and peace. However, actions by the PF leadership, such as the display of the book titled “How to Deal With Idiots,” an innuendo understood to refer to the President, and remarks by Raphael Nakachinda suggesting that the Presidency can call for a meeting “just to sit umungulu (purposelessly),” are totally unacceptable. Such meetings, like the Church-led ones at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross during the reintroduction of multiparty democracy, had clear agendas. It is unfair to reduce the Presidency to such levels of impoliteness.
We call upon the Reformed Church of Zambia and Reverend Banda, in particular, to state their position on the humiliating language used by Mr. Lungu and his supporters, such as Mr. Nakachinda, towards the President, as they were the ones who called upon the President to meet the former President.
Failure by Reverend Banda to admonish this behaviour will be understood by some citizens as a setup against the Head of State. How else should we interpret it if Reverend Banda and the Reformed Church of Zambia do not see anything wrong with the disrespectful remarks made about the Head of State following their request for a meeting with Mr. Lungu?
Furthermore, it is the considered view of most citizens that the tensions claimed by the opposition are a figment of their imagination. The opposition should note that the tensions they perceive are not national but personal. Many politicians claiming national tension are those with cases before law enforcement agencies and courts of law. How do such personal issues become national?
We call upon law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to ensure the speedy disposal of cases before their institutions to bring these matters to their logical conclusions. Zambians are now enjoying political and fundamental freedoms that had shrunk under the PF regime.
Therefore, the Republican President’s willingness to meet his predecessor does not stem from an assumption of national tension at all but willingness to listen not only to Mr. Lungu but other opposition leaders as stated at the Reformed Church of Zambia event.
(Original copy signed)
BISHOP JOHN MAMBO
PRESIDENT