CATHOLIC CHURCH HATES HH – UPND
…as George Chisanga, the Patriotic Front (PF) legal chairperson says the UPND has continued to malign the Catholic Church and clergy because President Hichilema has not exhibited any desire to condemn or censure his cadres for their behavior
THE Catholic Church is harbouring hatred against President Hakainde Hichilema and its priests would have wished the head of State was removed from State House, a UPND operative Mark Simuwe has claimed.
The UPND is also calling for the arrest of Catholic priests for preaching about hard economic times Zambians are going through as a result of the high cost of living because according to the ruling party, the clerics were but just human being like any other.
But George Chisanga has said President Hakainde Hichilema’s silence and failure to condemn his senior party officials and cadres who have continued demonizing and insulting the Catholic Church and its priests is indicative that he has been approving the barbaric behavior of his cadres.
Meanwhile, Fr Francis Mukosa, the secretary general of the Zambia Council of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) said the Church was waiting for Cornelius Mweetwa, the Minister of Information and invitation for a round table discussion.
Mark Simuuwe, the UPND consultant has restated that the Archbishop of Lusaka, Dr Alick Banda is a joker and Lucifer as was characterised by Batuke Imenda, the ruling party’s secretary general and President Hakainde Hichilema.
Speaking when he featured on Hot FM’s Hot Seat programme yesterday, Mr Simuuwe, who was responding to a call from a citizen only identified as Mandona, said they had separated Archbishop Banda from the Catholic Church.
“Who is Lucifer? Lucifer was a good man, he was a morning star and he obly became bad when he became Satan. Archbishop had fallen from glory. He had abandoned his priestly work and started dinning in darkness…I do not want to use Satan language (against Archbishop Dr Banda). They (Cathoilic Priests) are dramatizing the high cost of living. It is (high cost of living) is not a sermon to preach in church,” Mr Simuwe said.
Mr Simuuwe said there was nothing wrong with arresting Catholic priests if they broke the law because they were, after all human beings.
“Let me start with Mandona who says can I confirm on Bishop Banda being Lucifer and HH (President Hakainde Hichilema) also said he is a joker. I can mention to you that we have separated these priests from the church,” Mr Simuwe said.
Mr Simuwe said if Catholic priests wanted to be respected, they should behave and stop talking about the high cost of living because they could be arrested like any other citizen.
“A priest is like any other citizen. They are governed by the same laws which govern everybody else. If they want to be respected, they must behave,” he said.
Mr Simuuwe said if priests were preaching to their congregants about the successes UPND had scored in the last two and half years, the governing party would not be against them.
But Mr Chisanga, the Patriotic Front (PF) chairman for legal affairs says President has the responsibility to stop the hate speech against the Catholic Church and its priests because such kind of uncouth behavior could easily cause consternation in the country.
Mr Chisanga, the PF Lukasha Member of Parliament said in an interview that the UPND officials and their cadres had continued abusing Catholic Priests because they were emulating President Hichilema who had clearly demonstrated that he was not willing to discipline or censure his members committing hate crimes against Zambians.
He stated that President Hichilema had demonstrated that he shall continue to protect his cadres and that was why they were bold enough to abuse and spew invectives against the Catholic prelates while the head of State was watching with glee.
“My earnest appeal to President Hichilema is that let him work towards maintaining law and order and peaceful co-existence among all Zambians irrespective to their tribe, ethnicity, religion and political affiliation. But this is the President who has did not admonish his secretary general Batuke Imenda when he called the Archbishop of Lusaka Lucifer neither has he ever apologized. And now we have Simuwe who is clearly spewing hate speech against the Catholic Church and he will be protected. But President Hichilema has a chance to come out clean because his cadres are committing all kinds of crimes, including hate crimes in his name,” Mr Chisanga said.
Meanwile, Fr Mukosa when contacted said the ZCCB was waiting for an invitation to State House because Mr Mweetwa had announced that the Catholic Bishops would be invited for a meeting.