OCiDA NOT POLITICAL
…we’re not there to embarrass anyone publicly, says Mbula
By Kombe Chimpinde Mataka
Former secretary to cabinet Leslie Mbula says OCiDA will not entertain political statements meant to embarrass people.
Divisions have emerged in Our Civic Duty Association (OCiDA) after its chairman Telesphore Mpundu issued a state of the nation statement in which he has among other things warned the new dawn administration that a hungry people is an angry people.
“We have noted a worrying tendency by those in authority to heap praise on themselves whenever an opportunity presents itself and to explain away problems they cannot resolve by blaming the previous administration. This reflects a lack of decency and respect for the people. We all know that the country was in bad hands, and this explains why Zambians voted for change in August 2021. What the people now wish to see and hear from their elected leaders are solutions to their myriad of problems; it is to see the implementation of the many promises that were made by those in power today when they were in opposition. We have had enough of blaming the PF for the last one year plus four months,” said emeritus Archbishop Mpundu. “The current administration won power on a series of promises that included reducing the cost of living and tackling youth unemployment. Unfortunately, the cost of living has risen considerably in the past one year plus four months with no discernible plan in sight on how to reduce it. People in our communities are very hungry. They are struggling to feed themselves and their families. We want to remind this administration that a hungry people is an angry people. You need not be reminded what caused the French Revolution!”
But some board of trustee members have insisted that the statement which has been issued in the name of its board of trustees chairman did not have the blessings of all the members of the board.
Earlier on Thursday, OCiDA member Brebner Changala revealed that there were divisions in OCIDA as some members felt they could not hold the new dawn administration to account.
Addressing journalists at Kapingila House, Changala explained that Archbishop Mpundu had received information the day he was to address the media not to go ahead.
“I must confess and this cancellation is a testimony, we are divided. There is a group of senior members that thinks that we cannot hold the new dawn administration to account for their own reasons and then there are some of us who have seen the shortcomings and have risen to the day that let’s speak about the challenges we face today. OCiDA might not be the same from today,” he noted. “We were geared, the bishop is ready to speak to you, he had a statement… We are in a scenario where the bishop was supposed to speak and he’s a friend of the system. At the time PF was in power he was outspoken and he spoke for justice as he always does. The main challenge that he wanted to come out is that the new dawn government – the President inclusive – are beyond access. Nobody can access the President for various reasons. When OCiDA was formed, it was formed as a civic organisation that will fight for various interests in the country. It has come to pass that some members of OCiDA have indeed arrived and they do think OCiDA should not hold this government to account for many challenges that they face… so, other trusties at the last minute decided to pull out and leave the bishop a lone ranger.”
But Mbula, who is one of those opposed, said in an interview with The Mast that OCiDA was not a political party.
“It does not pursue any political agenda. It is an association which looks at the governance, which looks at how things are happening in the country. And as an association, we are not there to embarrass anyone publicly. We are supposed to have meetings to discuss issues. Now the thing is when that statement was prepared, we had no knowledge of it. So we objected to it being issued until we have the opportunity to study it; discuss it so that whatever is issued is a shared view. So we objected and it did not come out,” said Mbula who is also former Zambia’s high commissioner to South Africa. “That statement which is out has no backing of OCiDA. That is why the chairman did not issue it. That statement has no backing of Our Civic Duty Association. I want to clarify, this is why the chairman did not issue that statement. All of us objected to it because we had not discussed it before. That document is not ours.”