CATHOLIC CLERGY AND GOVERNANCE: THE CASE OF FR UMBERTO DAVOLI AND OTHERS

ONE of the Catholic Priests who had a huge influence on me was Fr Umberto Davoli, a Franciscan Conventual Italian priest.

I first used to hear of Fr Umberto from my late brother John who used to speak highly of this expatriate Catholic Priest who he thought spoke Bemba so well like he was from Chinsali.

After the suspicious death of Archbishop Elias Mutale of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kasama, who was purportedly assassinated by the regime, Fr Umberto became a household name and was severally warned to be on the wanted list.

An editor of Icengelo magazine, a very important magazine which I would later also become editor, Fr Umberto wrote truthfully but also viciously about the Kaunda and Chiluba regimes.

Personally, I met and lived with Fr Umberto who once gave me his own wristwatch because he noticed I didn’t have one. I have considered that gift to be a “handover”!

Before he left Zambia for good, he would also give me three books about astronomy saying I would find a better God by studying His universe. Up to now, those three books have been my treasures.

But Fr Umberto was more passionate about his mission and his role as a social and political commentator. At one time, I saw him shedding tears when preaching about the poor. Poor people were always at his doorstep begging.

Why have I raised Fr Umberto from the grave? Because the current government is making a grave mistake by demonising the Catholic clergy and it risks repeating the same mistake the other governments have been making.

I don’t believe that anyone who goes against the Catholic clergy will lose an election because Levy Mwanawasa did win his term despite calling the Catholic clergy names. But the fact that you stand against people who tell you the truth doesn’t mean you are hated.

Take Fr Chewe Mukosa, a very passionate Priest about the poor. Laura Miti strongly wrote against him purporting that he is just a nuisance without checking his background for his initiatives including currently building a health post in a rural area where the so-called increased Constituency Development Fund has never thought about a clinic.

Fr Anthony Salangeta is another Priest who simply talked about “ulutoshi” (lump of nshima) and was attacked for what they thought was uncouth language and told to go back for free education because of his advocacy. And both of these priests are Franciscan priests who belong to the same lineage of Fr Umberto.

I’m not suggesting that Catholic Franciscan Priests or any Catholic priests are perfect. But whenever government officials panic because a priest has said something, without even checking facts, then we can doubt their interest in the people for whom those priests talk about.

Catholic Priests are spread everywhere even where the income doesn’t support them. Personally, I have stayed in a mission where the only personal benefit I could receive was a warm greeting from people. In the end, people even ask you for more than you can get from them despite travelling distances and burning fuel.

I listened with disgust one of the governing party’s propagandists Mark Simuuwe insinuating that from now on, they’ll be separating the Catholic Priests from the Catholic Church and deal with individual priests when they talk about issues.

Such hogwash is not just sickening but backward and very detrimental to our development.

Every Catholic priest or clergy needs to be listened to. Every Zambian, especially those in contact with groups of people should be listened to.

Threatening people or using state instruments to cow “Umbertorian” voices is not only unnecessary but detrimental to what Zambia should be.