SDA Church Distances Itself From The Kelvin Kaunda Apology To Edgar Lungu Over HH’s ‘Kutumpa uko’ Remarks

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Kelvin Kaunda
Kelvin Kaunda

PRESS RELEASE

THE SDA CHURCH DISTANCES ITSELF FROM THE KELVIN KAUNDA APOLOGY TO ECL

March 17th, 2023

LUSAKA – We wish to reiterate that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is apolitical and avoids aligning itself with political organizations.
We have always ensured that our engagement with political leaders when necessary is constructive as well as privately conducted to avoid being misunderstood and misleading our church members as we are alive to the fact that they belong to different political parties of their choice.


Following the statement attributed to Mr. Kelvin Kaunda in which he was quoted as apologizing to former President Edgar Lungu on behalf of all our Church elders as regards some remarks that were made by the Republican President, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema in Kitwe; we wish to state the following:
1. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Zambia is guided in its operations and management by among other documents the Working Policy, Church Manuel. In this particular matter, we are also guided by The Communication Policy for the Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Zambia. These documents set the tone for our organisation’s culture; communicates expectations to employees and church members and guide the day-to-day operations.

2. The Communication Policy for the Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Zambia on Page 7 guides as follows:
8.0 EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION
8.1 GENERAL POLICY STATEMENT
8.1.1 The Church shall provide clear and relevant information to the general public on matters that affect its relationship, perception and its standing in society. In doing so, the Church shall endeavor to use different means of communicating to the public at its disposal.
8.1.2 External communication shall only be done by officially designated staff and this shall be done in a professional manner.
8.2 NATIONAL OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED COMMUNICATIONAUTHORITIES
8.2.1 The Union Presidents are the chief spokespersons of the Church in their respective Unions. For joint union matters, however, the two Unions shall appoint/designate an official Spokesperson who shall communicate with Media, Government authorities and the public. The Spokesperson shall hold office for a period until a subsequent quinquennial session. In discharging his functions, the designated spokesperson shall liaise with the officers of the two Unions for purposes of consensus. In the absence of consensus on a particular matter, the EXCOMs or ADCOMs of both Unions shall take a vote to come up with a position on the matter.

3. Having quoted the above authority, we wish to state that Mr. Kaunda who is an elder in our Church has no authority to speak on behalf of the Seventh day Adventist Church in Zambia in part or its entirety. We also do not have one who speaks on behalf of a section or all the elders in our Church in Zambia.

4. Therefore, he was speaking and representing his own views and political interests which have nothing to do with the Church. We do acknowledge that he has like any other Zambian citizen a Constitutional right to belong to any political association of his choice but that does not grant him authority to speak on behalf of the Church.

5. We therefore, wish to inform our members and the general public to ignore the statement attributed to Mr. Kaunda as it does not represent the position of the Church but his own political views which is his personal inherently deserved privilege. We would like to appeal to Mr. Kaunda to avoid involving the Church in his politics in future as doing so may have far reaching consequences in maintaining Church unity.

6. Further, we would like to request the media institutions that covered Mr. Kaunda’s story to ensure they apply themselves to best ethical journalism practices that enjoins journalists to seek the truth and report it objectively. This includes fact-checking, not intentionally distorting information, identifying authentic sources, avoiding stereotypes, supporting the open exchange of opinions and balanced reporting.

Dr. Vanny Munyumbwe ​​​
Dr. Tommy Namitondo
President​​​​​ – Southern Zambia Union Conference​
President – Northern Zambia Union Conference

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