NATIONAL DIALOGUE:
The State, Politics and Sins of the Church
Dr CANISIUS BANDA Development Activist Former UPND Vice President for Politics
THE Church, as an institution, is not without sin. This is so because, the Church, comprises men and women, who by all accounts, are as fallible as everyone else. From the persecution of scientists and free thinkers in the early centuries to the genocide that was Rwanda only a few years ago, history is replete with gory atrocities that, whilst wearing the cloak of holiness, the Church has perpetrated. That for these sins of the Church, the Church has atoned before and will continue to do so, is an incontestable matter of public record. It is for this reason that all people must know that Truth is supreme to the Church.
The Catholic Church
My own church, the Catholic one, is presently terribly mired, for all its non-sustainable posturing on celibacy, in the worst and goriest of scandals of a sexual nature. However, for all its sins, the church remains the most influential institution on Earth on the behavior of human beings. And the Catholic Church still is the most powerful religio-political organization in the world. For instance, at present, the Pope’s influence on people in the world is only rivalled by that of the FIFA president. It is for the foregoing reason that, in spite of its stains, our Republican President His Excellency Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu should always have a healthy relationship with the Church. For the stated reason, any political leader in the world ignores the Church to his own detriment. Dialogue is an integral component of any culture of people on Earth. It is an indispensable part of our way of life as people. It is a vital medium of relationships. It is with this recognition that Zambia, as a sovereign nation, has shown leadership on the continent through encapsulating this priceless value of dialogue by making it a sacrosanct part of its national principles and values. Premised on this recognition, our Republican President His Excellency Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu is on record, as captured by his own words when in his last address to parliament on the national principles and values, as viewing political dialogue to be crucial and indispensable for mutually beneficial coexistence. Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue Further, cognizant of the importance of political party dialogue in a multi-party Republic such as ours, Zambia, with the support of cooperating partners, the Dutch in this case, institutionalized dialogue. Zambia formed the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue [ZCID]. The ZCID is an organization that is only one of the many public institutions that make up our nation and hold it together. The ZCID is owned by the people, and aware of the vital role that political parties would play in the life and operations of the ZCID, the political parties themselves were made to comprise its board. The argument that the ZCID is weak is a valid one.
What isn’t?
However, that the ZCID is weak is NOT a valid reason to negate its important role in Zambia’s political life nor is it a sound one for sidelining it as the Church in Zambia now wants done. We all ought to be grateful to God that He has gifted us with the capacity to discern weaknesses in things. So it follows then that he who identifies weaknesses in something is the one best placed to strengthen that very thing he deems weak. Weakness is NOT a chief reason for elimination. There is NOT a single institution in Zambia that is NOT weak. This is why, as compelled by the constitutional duties and responsibilities of all citizens, we must all everyday seek the strengthening of these institutions. We, the creators, must not be the ones to call for their marginalization or destruction. And as a remarkable feat of national unity and communal consensus, political parties all agreed with the ZCID that the Church should chair the national political dialogue. This is as it should be. Clearly noting its crucial role in Zambia’s political life, the Church was offered centre-stage to lead the process under a constitutionally recognized public body. What then is better than that? Alas, the Church now wants its own process. The church here is wrong. And it is wrong NOT for the first time in its history. Instead of uniting the nation, the Church now is fomenting division and redundancy. It follows then that all citizens must now begin to pray for the Church. The Church in Zambia now runs the risk of being viewed as a blackmailer. It now seems to be holding the government, and by deduction, the people of Zambia, to ransom. The Church must recognize that its existence is legislated for by our Republican Constitution, that the government is supreme to it and NOT vice versa. The Church in Zambia must never at any time usurp the authority of the government of the Republic of Zambia, which it now is in danger of appearing to be doing. To go against public institutions that are themselves products of the people through their constitution is an act not only against the State but it is also veritably grossly anti-nationalistic and devoid of patriotism. To insist on its own political dialogue process and duplicate what is already underway is not only arrogant, costly and uninspiring Church unilateralism but it is foolishly obstructionist as well. The current position of the Church pits it against the very people it seeks to minister to, puts it at loggerheads with the very people that have allowed the Church to exist in the first place. ZCID was created by the people, and the people created the Church. Using political party secretaries general, the agendum for the dialogue should be prepared by all. Nonetheless, that an agendum exists, that a list of what is to be discussed has been prepared, does not preclude an open conversation by all participants. All political parties should attend the national dialogue meetings, and when in attendance, they must speak as they please, cognizant of their freedoms. The dialogue will only be of value to Zambia if those in attendance are NOT gagged, or told what to say. Dialogue is NOT an event. It is a process. There will be this dialogue and there will be more dialogue in future. And to view this opportunity for dialogue, by any opposition political party leader, as an opportunity for displacing an incumbent Republican President from power is a bizarre, wrong and corrupt way of viewing national development things. -Let there be dialogue. -Let the people speak. -Let the ZCID host the dialogue. -Let the Church chair the dialogue. -Let all political parties attend. -And let the SADC, AU, Commonwealth and the UN all attend as mere observers. Nonetheless, in the end, it is the responsibility of our Republican President His Excellency Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, as mandated by our Republican Constitution, that national political dialogue is initiated by his office and held by the willing with or without the Church, the SADC, AU, Commonwealth or the UN. If the named organizations cannot attend NOW, they sure will in the FUTURE. Worth noting is that the definition of sovereignty of any nation is devoid of the presence of these named organizations. Dithering by the UPND, Zambia’s leading opposition political party, is deliberate and strategic for this political party. It is only intended to create the impression of conflict and tension in the country, which envisaged environment would benefit the UPND itself as it seeks regime change. The UPND may be the leading opposition political party in Zambia but is NOT the only political party. Technically, and as now appears more likely, let the national political dialogue continue even without this antagonistic and wayward political party. Absence by the UPND from this national process meant to consolidate our national unity and peace will terribly work against this obstinate political party as the public perception that this party has now morphed into an enemy of the State through its egocentric behavior will only be cemented.
No one is holier than another. All have sinned, including the Church.
The ZCID is owned by the people, and aware of the vital role that political parties would play in the life and operations of the ZCID, the political parties themselves were made to comprise its board
Instead of uniting the nation, the Church now is fomenting division and redundancy. It follows then that all citizens must now begin to pray for the Church. — Dr Banda.