WHY HAS THE CHURCH REMAINED SILENT WHILE PRESIDENT HICHILEMA IS PUBLICLY DEMEAMED BY HIS PREDECESSOR?
July 9th, 2024
LUSAKA – We welcome the remarks by Republican President Hakainde Hichilema expressing his willingness to reach out to the opposition, including former President Edgar Lungu, for dialogue.
President Hichilema made this commitment in response to Reverend Patson Banda of the Reformed Church of Zambia, who encouraged him to seek peace with Mr. Lungu. Reverend Banda noted that the public would be pleased to see both leaders working together for the country’s benefit.
We appreciate the Church’s ongoing role in promoting unity and peace, which are crucial for a favourable investment climate and the overall well-being of citizens. However, we request that the Church remain fair to the Head of State, who has been subjected to disrespect by Mr. Lungu through various statements. It is surprising that the Church has remained silent while the President has been demeaned and ostracized by the very person they encourage him to meet.
We believe the Church stands for fairness and justice, but it is concerning that there has been no response to President Lungu’s aggressive and inappropriate language towards the current Head of State. The Church must recognize that mutual respect is essential for any meaningful dialogue, without which such efforts may be seen as politically motivated. It is our firm belief that the President is not in conflict with any citizen, and thus it is not entirely accurate to ask him to make peace with anyone specifically.
Mr Lungu recently described the Head of State as MAMBALA WACHUNSU at a public rally in Kitwe and the church took a silent position and could not rebuke him for the demeaning words. But is always quick to condemn President Hakainde Hichilema even for matters that are not of his making such as the ongoing wrangles in the opposition PF.
We hope that Reverend Banda, who requested President Hichilema to reconcile with Mr. Lungu, will also publicly admonish Mr. Lungu to be respectful towards the Presidency. Any issues he has should be addressed in a manner that respects the office he once held.
We also saw the Church blaming the government and President Hichilema on the recent vacation of nine parliamentary seats by Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Moyo. How that became a Hichilema problem beats our logic when we all know that the process to expel the nine was initiated by their own party leadership.
We call on the church to play its role with impartiality regardless of the perpetrators and on our part, we wish to assure the nation that we shall do that which is democratically permissible.
We remain committed to supporting efforts that ensure Zambia continues to be a beacon of peace and unity in Africa. This is why we welcome President Hichilema’s statement, which should not be misconstrued as a sign of weakness but rather as a demonstration of his strong character and ability to handle difficult situations for the nation’s best interest as Republican President and Commander of the Defense Forces.
Issued by :
Cheelo Katambo
Deputy Media Director – UPND
(C) UPND MEDIA TEAM
July 9th, 2024
LUSAKA – We welcome the remarks by Republican President Hakainde Hichilema expressing his willingness to reach out to the opposition, including former President Edgar Lungu, for dialogue.
President Hichilema made this commitment in response to Reverend Patson Banda of the Reformed Church of Zambia, who encouraged him to seek peace with Mr. Lungu. Reverend Banda noted that the public would be pleased to see both leaders working together for the country’s benefit.
We appreciate the Church’s ongoing role in promoting unity and peace, which are crucial for a favourable investment climate and the overall well-being of citizens. However, we request that the Church remain fair to the Head of State, who has been subjected to disrespect by Mr. Lungu through various statements. It is surprising that the Church has remained silent while the President has been demeaned and ostracized by the very person they encourage him to meet.
We believe the Church stands for fairness and justice, but it is concerning that there has been no response to President Lungu’s aggressive and inappropriate language towards the current Head of State. The Church must recognize that mutual respect is essential for any meaningful dialogue, without which such efforts may be seen as politically motivated. It is our firm belief that the President is not in conflict with any citizen, and thus it is not entirely accurate to ask him to make peace with anyone specifically.
Mr Lungu recently described the Head of State as MAMBALA WACHUNSU at a public rally in Kitwe and the church took a silent position and could not rebuke him for the demeaning words. But is always quick to condemn President Hakainde Hichilema even for matters that are not of his making such as the ongoing wrangles in the opposition PF.
We hope that Reverend Banda, who requested President Hichilema to reconcile with Mr. Lungu, will also publicly admonish Mr. Lungu to be respectful towards the Presidency. Any issues he has should be addressed in a manner that respects the office he once held.
We also saw the Church blaming the government and President Hichilema on the recent vacation of nine parliamentary seats by Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Moyo. How that became a Hichilema problem beats our logic when we all know that the process to expel the nine was initiated by their own party leadership.
We call on the church to play its role with impartiality regardless of the perpetrators and on our part, we wish to assure the nation that we shall do that which is democratically permissible.
We remain committed to supporting efforts that ensure Zambia continues to be a beacon of peace and unity in Africa. This is why we welcome President Hichilema’s statement, which should not be misconstrued as a sign of weakness but rather as a demonstration of his strong character and ability to handle difficult situations for the nation’s best interest as Republican President and Commander of the Defense Forces.
Issued by :
Cheelo Katambo
Deputy Media Director – UPND
(C) UPND MEDIA TEAM
Because the predecessor was quiet and in retirement when HH was everyday calling him thief and a thug!. When he did not react to that HH went for his family and political party. You and HH insulted him at every given opportunity with the mic. Hence forcing him out of retirement. Deal with his presence you wanted it.
Get your facts right. Lungu came out of retirement because what Miles Sampa didnt.
It had nothing to do with HH. The narrative is that PF have tired to malign HH and implicate him and UPND. The court cases and the facts show that Miles Sampa acted jointly with other PF members on their own in the decision to have a conference wherein he was elected President of PF.
From the court rulings where is UPND implicated? The same can be said about the said Abduction of Jay Jay. Before the Police are able to finish their unvestigations and the matter proceeds tp court. Mwa concludea..mwaba shani? Lekeni boma ibombe. Let the courts preside. Here we read already the vain utterances of Nakachinda suggesting to demonstrate every Friday. Are those progressive statements?
HH never recognised ECL as Republican president!! How disrespectful!!!
Observer how surely did you expect HH to respect a faud Edgar Lungu who became a Republican President through fraudulent election umpired by one Esau Chulu? Which part of Zambia do you find Chitulika Constituency announced by Esau Chulu iwe PF loser? Iwe Lundazi Central Constituency had 28000 registered voters but Esau Chulu apportioned slightly over 29000 votes to Edgar Lungu, how, why and from where iwe? C’mon use your brain correctly iwe.
He is older should show the better way, unless he has dropped his christian values
2.1 PF LOSERS FOR 2.1 PF IDIOTS you have again spoken stinking rubbish bwana. Your Edgar Lungu doesn’t deserve any respect for abdicating State powers to you PF criminals. Abash guntrotting and Panga Wielding PF criminals for good.
PF lied to the rest of their supporters that they were rebranding and there would be a convention to elect a new party president. Some members, including Miles Sampa even paid K200,000 in cash as candidate fees. Kanshi they were dribbling the sleeping members as there was to be no convention So Miles fixed them, you could not dribble him twice!
The observations and what is written in article is true and timely. The Church has not acted fairly and seem to play double standards when it comments on unity, rule of law, governance and democracy. There are critical issues concerning the relationship between president Hakainde Hichilema and former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu. As pointed out in the article Edgar Chagwa Lungu announced his retirement from active politics and eventually came back to active politics thereby causing confusion in PF. The disunity in PF has continued because of Edgar Chagwa Lungu. Secondly, the government has been pursuing Edgar Chagwa Lungu ‘s family with cases of possessing properties and funds beyond their means. Their cases are still active in courts. Does it mean that the reconciliation the Church has been preaching means that President Hakainde Hichilema’s government should drop all charges against Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s family? The Church should counsel Edgar Chagwa Lungu who is undermining the authority of president Hakainde Hichilema and the government. What good can former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu bring to this country? This is a person who promoted anarchy through thuggery, hooliganism, and caderism. He also enhanced tribalism, hate speech, corruption and thieving.
Edgar Chagwa Lungu was a pathetic and cruel leader whose character and moral standing can not be compared to president Hakainde Hichilema. While being president Edgar Chagwa Lungu spent much of his time gallivanting and heavily drinking alcohol. He associated himself with crooks.
The Church should be asking Edgar Chagwa Lungu the man from Chawama compound with a questionable character how he suddenly became rich and accumulated a lot of wealth within a short period of time? What businesses did he own before he became Member of Parliament and during the time he served as Minister? Prior to becoming Member of Parliament Edgar Chagwa Lungu was a disgraced lawyer who was suspended from practising law because of his uncouth conduct. It took president Michael Chilufya Sata’s intervention to have his membership with the Law Association of Zambia reinstalled.
The church will speak for the needy , voiceless , oppressed and marginalised. Politics of intimidation and intolerance between HH and Lungu this has been ongoing . HH has insulted Lungu Chikala, Chimbwe no plan, drunkard and name calling the church never came in but when HH was brutalised and treated less Zambian, the church spoke openly against this and issued statements . Archbishop Mpundu was insulted and threatened by PF surrogates but Lungu had respect for the Church. The church will not get involved in exchange of views unless it’s affecting the ordinary citizens .lucifers will not get involved