The call for sanctions is premature and misguided.

Dear Editor, Our group of senior citizens known as OCIDA (Our Civil Duty Association) is now swimming in uncharted waters. Their call for US sanctions against the big seven ‘destroyers’ of our democracy is both premature and misguided (Daily Nation, March 14 2024).

OCIDA is very stately and therefore is expected to provide state counsel and not operating in the Activist mode like Alliance for Community Action (ACA). But this shift is well understood, OCIDA has been captured by UKA.

I have said before and let me repeat this observation. Activist Brebner Changala and Archbishop Emeritus Mpundu share deep seated negative perception of the UPND regime. The duo has pushed OCIDA into an extremist organisation.

Partly, this is the faulty of UPND and President HH themselves. They have failed to develop a soft strategy to contain the outspoken individuals in OCIDA such as Activist Changala and Archbishop Emeritus Mpundu.

Activist Changala has one template he uses to analyse regimes. He never adapts that template. It is either white or black and nothing in between. He is highly experienced in the praxis of good governance but also highly opinionated. This is where weakness lies. He treats his perception has reality when not.

Archbishop Emeritus Mpundu is deeply rooted in the social justice movement. He is a crying Jeremiah. Having gone into retirement, he lost the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) platform. But he did not lose his prophetic voice. So, OCIDA has become crucial platform even if he can still speak in his individual capacity.

What President HH requires to do is to recognise OCIDA as special envoy, similar to he has done with our former Vice Presidents. Open lines of consultation in his decision making processes so that he receives the wide inputs, by doing this, he will be morally holding OCIDA to account.