The Church must not choose political leaders—but she must choose truth over convenience- Dr. Katele Kalumba

Dr. Katele Kalumba wrote…

Beloved shepherds of the Church, leaders of political parties, and fellow Zambians of goodwill,

I write not as a partisan, nor as a contender for office, but as an elder of this Republic—one who has served, watched, erred, learned, and prayed through many seasons of our national life. Age does not confer wisdom automatically, but it does impose a duty: to speak when silence becomes dangerous, and to speak gently when anger tempts us to destroy what we seek to save.

I write because I sense, across our land, a troubling stillness. Not the stillness of peace, but the stillness of exhaustion. The Scriptures name it well: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12). Our people are not indifferent. They are weary.

To the Church: When the Shepherds Are Divided

The Church in Zambia has long been the nation’s conscience. In moments of darkness, she has spoken when others feared; she has restrained when others inflamed. Yet today, I say this with sorrow, the Church herself appears divided in voice, hesitant in posture, and uneven in moral clarity.

Our Lord reminds us that “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:25). When some pulpits comfort power while others challenge it, the flock becomes confused. When unity is sacrificed for proximity, prophecy grows faint.

An African proverb teaches us: “When the drumbeat is confused, the dancers lose rhythm.”
The nation is stumbling, not because there is no drum, but because the beat is no longer clear.

The Church must not choose political leaders—but she must choose truth over convenience, unity over tribal comfort, and moral courage over strategic silence. Neutrality in a time of constitutional injury is not peace; it is abandonment.

To Opposition Leaders: When Fragmentation Becomes a Moral Failure

I address opposition leaders with respect, but also with firmness born of experience. Political plurality is a democratic virtue. But fragmentation in the face of systemic capture is no longer virtue—it is negligence.

The Preacher teaches us: “Two are better than one… for if they fall, one will lift up his companion” (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10). Yet today, many walk alone, each guarding ambition, while the people fall between them.

Let us speak plainly: when opposition leaders refuse to subordinate personal ambition for a single national purpose, they do not merely lose elections—they forfeit moral authority. History does not remember how many candidates contested; it remembers whether leaders rose above themselves when the nation required restraint.

Our elders warned us: “If you want to cross a river full of crocodiles, you do not argue about who enters first.”
You cross together—or you are all eaten.

Unity at this moment does not mean love, nor ideological harmony. It means discipline. It means agreeing that the Constitution, once broken, cannot protect anyone—not even tomorrow’s victor.

To the Church and Political Leaders Together: On Power, Money, and Conscience

What we have witnessed recently is not the failure of public mobilization. The people spoke. The Church spoke. Civil society spoke. What prevailed was the power of money over conscience, coercion over persuasion, inducement over principle.

Scripture warns us with brutal clarity: “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). When money buys silence, loyalty, or votes, it corrodes not only politics but the soul of a nation.

Those who resisted bribery and violence did not lose. They kept their moral inheritance. And nations, like families, survive not on wealth alone but on what they refuse to sell.

To Concerned Zambians: On Silence, Fear, and Responsibility

My fellow citizens, your silence today must not be mistaken for defeat. Silence can be fear—but it can also be discernment. “There is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:7).

Yet silence must not become surrender.

The struggle ahead will not be won by rage or reckless protest. It will be won by endurance, by lawful civic responsibility, by economic discipline, by truth spoken calmly and repeatedly. No regime fears insults. But every unjust system fears a people who withdraw consent quietly and persistently.

An African proverb reminds us: “The fire that burns the hut begins as unnoticed embers.”
Change need not shout to be unstoppable.

A Final Appeal

To the Church: recover one moral voice.
To opposition leaders: embrace restraint before history shames you.
To citizens: do not trade dignity for despair.

The Psalmist prayed, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). We are numbering our national days now—not to end them, but to save them.

May we yet be remembered as a generation that bent, but did not break; that suffered loss, but refused to surrender conscience; that chose unity over ego, and truth over comfort.

I speak as one who has walked this road long enough to know: power passes, money evaporates, but moral failure leaves a long shadow.

May God grant us courage without hatred, unity without idolatry, and hope disciplined by wisdom.

Yours in faith, conscience, and country,
A concerned elder of the Republic