BISHOPS TARNISHING IMAGE OF CATHOLIC CHURCH

WE find it mind boggling that Catholic bishops want to tarnish the good image of the church by siding with the UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema who has refused to be part of the Constitution refining process, ZRP president Wright Musoma has charged.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lusaka, Mr Musoma said while ZRP respect the Catholic Bishops because of their immense contribution to the governance and development of the country, the party does not agree with their partisan stance on Bill 10.

He said the calls by the Bishops to have Bill 10 withdrawn should be ignored because the men of God were not being sincere in their opposition.

“The demand by the Bishops that Bill 10 should be withdrawn should be ignored because it’s unreasonable,” Mr Musoma said.

Mr Musoma wondered what agenda the Bishops were now propelling when not too long ago, the some people after their friend HH lost the 2016 election, pressurised government to refine the constitution.

He said the Bishops that are toying with the interests of UPND should be asked to leave the church and join politics so that they can stop hiding behind the pulpit.

Mr Musoma called on the Bishops to be sincere and stop misleading the nation that the process that gave birth to Bill 10 was not inclusive. “Let the bishops not mislead the country that Government did not invite everybody to the dialogue table through the NDF,” he said. He said it was sad that despite Government pleading with some opposition parties and civil society organisations to attend the NDF, they decided to stay away from the process.

Mr Musoma said in addition to the NDF, Zambians were also invited to submit to the parliamentary select committee but that only those who cared for the welfare of the Zambians submitted their views while the other group who are now calling for the withdrawal of the bill shunned the process.

Mr Musoma