Epistle to Catholic priests; don’t take us the Rwanda route!

The Zambia Police, Ndola Division has requested Catholic priest Chewe Mukosa to appear before them next Tuesday to assist with investigations over an unspecified matter. However, instead of waiting for the police to do their homework since no one is above the law whether they’re priests or not, the Patriotic Front and their surrogates have gone full-throttle insinuating that, “Mukosa has been summoned for questioning in connection with preaching against loadshedding and the high cost of living when he delivered his Good Friday message.”

We won’t delve into the issue since we aren’t privy to why the priest is wanted by the police, but shall instead restrict ourselves to interrogating the attitude of a few known Catholic priests towards the New Dawn Administration, and President Hakainde Hichilema in particular. Scriptures say, people perish due to lack of knowledge. Indeed…….the process of training to become a Catholic priest is a tedious one. According to Wikipedia, it takes five or six year full-time Course of Formation at a seminary, including study for a degree or other qualification in theology. The Seminary Course of Formation will also involve placements in parishes of the diocese in which you will gain practical, pastoral and liturgical skills.

Given this background, human as they are; Catholic priests are obviously more knowledgeable compared to ordinary preachers; and when they stand on the pulpit to ‘preach,’ they are not expected to mislead the public on emotive issues such as loadshedding, price of mealie meal or even our current drought situation. But lo and behold, we’ve seen some priests excitedly take to the pulpit and literally engage in politics. They’re quick to whip-up emotions by twisting information and spewing half-truths to cajole the public to start thinking the current administration has failed, lamentably. It’s actually shocking to see and hear them criticise Hichilema and his government in acidic and bitter tones, bereft of any love or compassion!

Don’t these priests realise they’re sowing seeds of acrimony and discord in the Church and nation at large – polarization if you like, by conducting themselves in such a despicable manner on the pulpit? It’s interesting that it’s always the usual suspects – the Mpundus, Mukosas, Lupupas, Mwewas, Kabasos and Chikoyas leading the onslaught. Is Hichilema paying the price for belonging to a “wrong tribe?” How come we don’t often see priests from the Zambezi provinces come out guns and blazing on the current president? We have every reason to suspect this ‘attack’ on Hichilema from some Catholic priests borders on nothing else, but tribalism and regionalism!

Since today marks 30 years since the genocide in Rwanda, we shall take time to reflect outline the chilling account of the role the Catholic church played in the same, whereby 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 100 days of violence for which Pope Francis has since sought forgiveness for the “sins and failings of the church and its members.”

According to the March 27, 2017 issue of The Guardian, one priest, Father Athanase Seromba, ordered his church to be bulldozed with 2,000 Tutsis sheltering inside. Another priest, Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, equally helped draw up lists of people to be killed and raped. This is according to charges issued by the UN’s international criminal tribunal for Rwanda in 2005.

The publication further highlights that the Catholic church was compromised by its longstanding political ties to the ruling Hutu elite. Archbishop Vincent Nsengiyumva sat on the ruling party’s central committee for nearly 15 years even as it implemented policies that discriminated against Tutsis.Once the massacres started, instead of using his political affiliations to urge the regime to stop the killing, he refused even to call it genocide. Witnesses said he stood by as Tutsi priests, monks and a nun were taken to be murdered!

Further acknowledging its role in such dastardly crimes against humanity; in 2016, Rwanda’s Catholic bishops apologised for “all the wrongs the church committed” during the genocide. Their statement admitted church members planned, aided and carried out the genocide, and that the local church had later resisted efforts by the government and groups of survivors to acknowledge the church’s complicity in mass murder.

We shudder at the thought of history repeating itself in our beloved nation. Our plea to politicians hiding in priestly robes is simple: please, don’t take us on the path of Rwanda.

Prince Bill M. Kaping’a
Political/Social Analyst