By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
DON’T over promise, we are tired of excuses, Fr Emmanuel Chikoya warns President Hakainde Hichilema.
And Fr Chikoya, who is secretary general of the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), says a dead civil society and a compromised church is a danger to government because there are no critical voices to provide checks and balances.
Meanwhile, Fr Chikoya has demanded the release of the gassing and arson attacks reports so that Zambians can have full disclosure as to who was really behind the acts.
In an interview, Fr Chikoya, who is also president of the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG), advised President Hichilema to show true leadership.
“Don’t over promise; we are tired of excuses that it was just political rhetoric. Walk the talk in terms of promises. Zambians’ expectations are very high,” Fr Chikoya said.
He said zero tolerance to corruption must be actualised adding that the wrath that cadres had vented at markets, bus stations and mobile money booths should be a thing of the past.
Fr Chikoya said it was high time the local authorities raised funds from these places.
“This boarders on the restoration of the rule of law and Constitutional reforms must be quickly undertaken so that we get the fundamentals right,” he said.
Fr Chikoya called on government to ensure that agriculture was made profitable so as to attract Zambians, especially the youths, to venture into the sector.
“The State should be State and let the church be the church. Don’t spend so much time trying to compromise or buying the clergy. We need to be an independent and vibrant church, we don’t need handouts,” he said.
“It does not help when the civil society and the church is gone. It is not victory for those that are ruling, it is actually a danger to the government because you do not have that critical voice to provide checks and balances.”
Fr Chikoya also advised the government to leave chiefs alone.
“We don’t want traditional leaders and Christians for this one or that one, we just want independence and very robust civil society organisations. I hope we won’t see surrogate organisations being hired, that won’t help. Prayers must be left in the hands of the church and not capturing by the military through Chaplins,” he said.
Fr Chikoya said there must be mutual respect and that the economy needed to be right.
He said no part of Zambia should be left out on development because of how they voted.
“Show a difference that you can provide leadership that is beyond petty politics and that you can liberate Zambians, faith based organisations and the media so that they thrive,” Fr Chikoya advised.
He said the police should be allowed to operate professionally.
Fr Chikoya said the gassing and arson reports should be made public.
“We really need to know who was behind these so that we don’t see a repeat. When the police work professionally, these must be nipped in the bud,” said Fr Chikoya.