Unfair Criticism a Danger to National Development

Bob Sianjalika

29 April 2011

analysis

Service to humanity is the role of the historical Church. The Church that Jesus Christ left on earth, the Church that has built nations, the Church that gives shelter and care to the sick, the Church that is working as a home for the poor.

African-American Muslim minister, human rights activist and public speaker Malcolm-X once said “You are not to be blinded with patriotism that you can’t even face reality. What is wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”

The fact that some people hold influential positions in churches does not mean that they should not be criticised for diverting and abandoning the hub role of their calling in ministering the word of God.

To anyone, priests and, Bbishops, evangelists and reverends, whatever term one wants to use, they belong to the Holy flock of the lord.

The group tasked to intercede and bridge the glaring gap between love and hate in society.

The clergy are supposed to preach unity, peace, love, care and humanity among mankind.

Critique nature

The fact that Zambia is a developing nation should not mean having some elite groups should be criticising even well meant intentions for the benefit of the poor.

Some church leaders and politicians even criticise the Housing Empowerment Policy of the Government.

It is saddening that senior clergymen such as Ndola Catholic Bishop Alick Banda joined politicians in condemning well intended pronouncements such as the mobile hospitals and the housing empowerment.

The hospitals are meant to save the lives of people especially those in the far-flung areas of Zambia.

It is not surprising that some of the parishioners in Ndola opposed their bishop because they did not appreciate his criticism.

While hundreds of tenants that received and benefited from the houses are celebrating and thanking the Government, some clergy and politicians are against this gesture.

So, does the criticism of such projects especially by the clergy offer love to the poor and vulnerable in society or it is creamed in politics and deliberately tailored to please a few opposition political parties?

A clergyman criticising the Government support to the people! This is shocking. What will such leaders support?

Clergymen should not at any opportunity try to think in the line of politicians.

For politicians, their sole task is to indoctrinate the public with their propaganda messages aimed at swinging the dominance reign of power to their favour.

Clergymen don’t need to be popular for them to proclaim the word of God. They only need truth fulness and love for the people.

The flock follows naturally. They don’t have to play populist tunes at all. That should be left to politicians.

Even during the time of Jesus Christ, it was the message of goodwill and love that was preached.

This earned Christ the popularity among the flock – those that saw good things being done.

Unfortunately some sinners crucified him, they hated the truth.

Our clergy should emulate this.

Stand for the truth, support it and appreciate all innovations meant to benefit the less privileged.

Parastatal Houses

The housing empowerment policy is part of the MMD Government idea of uplifting people’s living standards.

It has been there since 1991. Opposition political leaders such as Patriotic Front’s Michael Sata are some of the architects of this policy.

A well-meant Government policy intended the easy the housing burden faced by some people in Zambia.

Most of the houses from parastatals were sold out to the sitting tenants between 1991 and 1996.

Almost 18 years down the line, most of these tenants have not completed paying the full purchase prices for the houses.

It should be minded that these houses were mostly subsidised. The fact that some people have not completed the process of buying houses for all these many years means a lot.

In short, a number of the sitting tenants failed to buy the houses despite them being offered at a subsidised price.

There are however, some that made full and partial payments. So shouldn’t the church be compassionate about such people who have written many appeal letters to the president?

Besides most of these beneficiaries are unemployed, widowed or orphans.

According to the Miracle of the Rosary Mission, Whenever any componentof society, e.g., the economic order, a political system, education,etc., humiliate human dignity by violating basic human rights, the church becomes involved.

How?

By upholding the full truth of the moral order and clearly calling real abuses of this by name.

And on the other hand, much more important is the positive role in explaining and promoting the various components of a just social order. The Church especially the Catholic Church does this through its social teachings.

Whenever the social, political, or economic order touches the moral order, then the church speaks out of its competence.

However, one can wonder why some leaders or individual bishops in the Catholic Church, some priests and some isolated people in some parts of the country tend to forget this big calling and responsibility ofthe church.

The writing-off of the debts on about 3,300 houses by President Banda is from the conviction that those families that have not managed to pay for the houses up to now have failed to meet this obligation.

They need to be bailed out. The gesture by the president was actually an override on the role of the church in Zambia.

The Church should have been the one lobbying for the cancellation of these debts and not to come and oppose.

While there has been an improvement in relations between the Government and the Catholic Church in particular of late, it should also be noted that there still remain some individual clergymen who seem to have hidden political motives and want to remain under the cover of the Church. No-wonder the Pope’s representative to Zambia Archbishop Nicola Girasoli said some of the attacks being made in Zambia by some church leaders were personal opinions and not the position of the church.

Clearly, the nuncio did not believe that Bishop Banda of Ndola opposed the writing off of the house debts to the people by Mr Banda.

For the opposition political parties opposed to the sell and writing off of the debts, they better hold their fire.

According to Mr Banda such critics should wait. Maybe their turn will come when they would be in Government so that they could withdraw the houses from the tenants.

As for him the people deserve the accommodation. In short, the PF should just assure those beneficiaries from the houses that their happiness would be short-lived.

It also appears there is total blind criticism from the PF over the housing empowerment policy.

As stated earlier, these are policies that Mr Sata helped formulate in the 1990’s but want to criticise now without offering alternatives.

Mr Banda openly stated his disappointment to the criticism over the house empowerment especially that it was coming from some church leaders who chose to be selective with realism.

Mobile Hospitals

Strangely and sadly there is criticism over the Mobile Hospitals.This is a service meant to directly serve the people in rural parts of Zambia.

What is surprising about the pattern of this criticism is that it is coming from the elite- people who might not even benefit from the services. These are people that have the money.

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