A MUTED RESPONSE

IT is surprising that there has been a muted response to the sermon that Dr Webster Chabe of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church gave at the weekend – that the UPND will soon be history and that Zambians do not want to revert to a one-party state. This time round, there hasn’t been all-round condemnation against the preacher, that he was promoting hate speech and divisions in the country. Dr Chabe joins the Catholic Church, the Law Association of Zambia, the Human Rights Commission and many other stakeholders who have spoken out on how bad things had become. A Roman Catholic priest was recently issued with a call-out by the police in Lusaka over his sermon deemed as “politically incorrect” but the summon was quietly withdrawn after a public outcry. As Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Brian Mundubile noted, what Dr Chabe told President Hichilema during his sermon was what the Catholic Church and other organisations had spoken about. Just what has happened that all is quiet after telling President Hichilema that “he’ll soon be history” – if he does not change” Dr Chabe happens to be the SDA Copperbelt Conference president and delivered his sermon at the Mindolo SDA Church in Kitwe that President Hakainde Hichilema attended. President Hichilema, who is an elder in SDA was on a five-day working visit to the Copperbelt and and had several Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament and councillors in tow. Dr Chabe in his sermon reminded President Hichilema that Zambians do not want to go back to the one-party State dictatorship because they are happy with the multiparty democracy that was brought about by the MMD. It is clear that Dr Chabe was referring to the toxic political environment that the UPND has created in which the opposition parties are being throttled, with little room to operate. Through what has come to be known as “mingalato,” the ruling UPND has made it virtually impossible for opposition parties to mobilise, using the Zambia Police to deny them clearance to hold public rallies. Dr Chabe told President Hichilema to keep in mind that governments come and go and soon, he would also be history and should therefore promote unity and national development for which he would be remembered for. “Here we are now with the UPND, what shall we remember you for. Remember governments come and go. Very soon, you will be history and people will be reading the records of your time. What will people remember you for? Before you beat about everywhere, go back to your name…UPND. There is unity and national development. Dig into that and ensure by the time you leave the stage, we can point at features…things you will have left for the nation and not for individuals but for the nation,” Dr Chabe said. The sermon was a poignant reminder that there was disunity in the nation, that the UPND should concentrate on unity and national development and ensure that they should put up things that would be monumental for the future generations. Surprisingly, no one is calling for Dr Chabe’s head. That is how things should be. Leave preachers alone to deliver the message without mincing their words.