WE MUST BE CAREFUL…we shouldn’t be looking at our leaders from a wako ni wako mentality – Chikoya

WE MUST BE CAREFUL…we shouldn’t be looking at our leaders from a wako ni wako mentality – Chikoya

By Fanny Kalonda(The Mast)

COUNCIL of Churches in Zambia general secretary Emmanuel Chikoya says sentiments of people being cleasened from the public service are worrisome.

He says the country is at the risk of losing national unity.

Fr Chikoya told The Mast that leaders must be careful and promote a narrative that promotes and sustains unity in the country.

“We should be talking unity and emphasising the perception that people are being cleansed from the civil service it’s there, it was there in the past and those sentiments are worrisome. People will defend, will clarify, but the issue is where there is no fire, there will be no smoke. And so we need to ensure that we handle sensitive matters, you know, including the perennial issue of the Barotse agreemenent and all those things, we must be careful that we always seem to create and speak the narrative that promotes and sustains unity in Zambia,” he said. “So we are better off than other countries but if not careful we may degenerate into chaos, so unity is critical. We should not be looking at our leaders from a wako ni wako mentality or muntu wesu mentality but to see a Zambian who is competent, a Zambian who has capacity. Those are the critical criteria that we must consider when we put people in office and nothing else.”

Asked if there is unity in the country, Fr Chikoya responded: “yes, but we are at the risk of losing it.”

He noted that what President Hakainde Hichilema and his predecessor Edgar Lungu say sends a message to the people.

“When as a leader you are saying in the past you were treated like this, you are basically telling those people now it is your turn to do ABCD. So we have to be calculated, we have to be measured, as influencers in terms of what we say. And so some of the narratives that sometimes take place repeatedly are not helpful,” said Fr Chikoya. “If you compare with others, it is worse as it were. Are we at the risk of losing it, yes we are. So these two leaders how they speak, what they say, matters. It sends a certain message.”