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YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) -- U.S. and Japanese vessels and aircraft searched Saturday for seven American sailors who were missing after their Navy destroyer collided before dawn with a container ship four times its size off the coast of Japan....
LONDON (AP) -- London police on Saturday raised to 58 the number of deaths either confirmed or presumed following the horrific inferno that turned the city's Grenfell Tower public housing block into a charred hulk....
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- Bill Cosby's trial on sexual assault charges ended in a mistrial Saturday after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision in a case that nevertheless helped destroy the 79-year-old comedian's image as "America's Dad."...
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It is very likely that the visit of Pope Francis to India and Bangladesh planned for the end of this year, could be postponed to next year, a prominent Indian Catholic Church leader said on Thursday. In an interview to National Catholic Reporter (NCR) on June 15, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay said that discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government about a papal visit this year have taken longer than expected. "I am beginning to lose hope about 2017," said the cardinal who is the president of both the Latin-rite bishops’ group, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), as well as the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC). "We are already in June. Even if they suddenly say, 'Come,' it is a pastoral visit ... [it] will take several months for the dioceses to prepare the people," Card. Gracias said. "It should not just be a flash in the pan, he comes and goes,&q...
It is very likely that the visit of Pope Francis to India and Bangladesh planned for the end of this year, could be postponed to next year, a prominent Indian Catholic Church leader said on Thursday. In an interview to National Catholic Reporter (NCR) on June 15, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay said that discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government about a papal visit this year have taken longer than expected.
"I am beginning to lose hope about 2017," said the cardinal who is the president of both the Latin-rite bishops’ group, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), as well as the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC). "We are already in June. Even if they suddenly say, 'Come,' it is a pastoral visit ... [it] will take several months for the dioceses to prepare the people," Card. Gracias said. "It should not just be a flash in the pan, he comes and goes," he said, explaining that when Pope St. John Paul II visited India in 1999, the Indian bishops "planned for almost a year before he came to make it effective."
Pope Francis first hinted about a possible visit to India and Bangladesh in 2017 during and in-flight press conference on October 2, 2016, while returning from a visit to Azerbaijan. Again in an interview to German weekly Die Zeit in March, the Pope spoke about his visit to India and Bangladesh, without giving dates. Earlier, Bangladeshi Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario had told reporters that given the weather conditions of Bangladesh, October-November would be ideal for a papal visit.
Second papal visit to be postponed this year
The India-Bangladesh visit would be the second papal visit to be postponed this year, after that of South Sudan. Originally planned for autumn this year, the Vatican confirmed on May 30 that the visit to the war-torn African nation wound not take place in 2017. South Sudan’s deteriorating security situation obviously appeared to be reason.
Card. Gracias told NCR that working with the Indian government to prepare the papal visit has been "a little bit of a difficult situation" as Modi's calendar has been filled up with state visits from other leaders. "We have to find a good spot where we can give the Holy Father his due importance and respect," Card. Gracias said. (Source: NCR)
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Paul Poupard as his special envoy to the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of the enclave of the Popes in Avignon, France.Cardinal Poupard is the president-emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture.He will be accompanied at the 23-25 June event by Msgr. Jean-Marie Gérard, vicar general of Avignon, and Rev. Canon Daniel Bréhier, rector of the Cathedral of Avignon.Pope Francis also sent the following letter to Cardinal Poupard (in Latin).Please find below the Pope's original letter:Venerabili Fratri NostroPAULO S.R.E. Cardinali POUPARDPraesidi emerito Pontificii Consilii de CulturaSuorum temporum variis condicionibus consideratis, Decessor Noster Ioannes XXII, qui ante fuerat etiam Archiepiscopus Avenionensis, Ecclesiae Catholicae electus Summus Pontifex, pro tempore in hac amoena Provinciae urbe sistere decrevit. Revera iam antea Praedecessor eius Clemens V ibidem suam Curiam collocaverat ipseque s...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Paul Poupard as his special envoy to the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of the enclave of the Popes in Avignon, France.
Cardinal Poupard is the president-emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
He will be accompanied at the 23-25 June event by Msgr. Jean-Marie Gérard, vicar general of Avignon, and Rev. Canon Daniel Bréhier, rector of the Cathedral of Avignon.
Pope Francis also sent the following letter to Cardinal Poupard (in Latin).
Please find below the Pope's original letter:
Venerabili Fratri Nostro
PAULO S.R.E. Cardinali POUPARD
Praesidi emerito Pontificii Consilii de Cultura
Suorum temporum variis condicionibus consideratis, Decessor Noster Ioannes XXII, qui ante fuerat etiam Archiepiscopus Avenionensis, Ecclesiae Catholicae electus Summus Pontifex, pro tempore in hac amoena Provinciae urbe sistere decrevit. Revera iam antea Praedecessor eius Clemens V ibidem suam Curiam collocaverat ipseque saepius moratus erat. Itaque Avenio beati Petri Successoribus quasi LXX per annos turbulento in aevo obtulit praesidium, unde Christi navem per historiae undas ducerent.
Cum autem septem saecula transacta sint a quo Ioannes XXII Civitatem Avenionensem sibi comparavit, videlicet ut iura Pontifici essent illic morandi, libere agendi aedesve exstruendi, hunc eventum congrue cupiens commemorare, Venerabilis Frater Ioannes Petrus Cattenoz, Archiepiscopus Avenionensis, humaniter petivit ut eminens Vir partes Nostras Avenione ageret.
Te ergo, Venerabilis Frater Noster, Praesidem emeritum Pontificii Consilii de Cultura, Galliae illustrem Filium itemque Ecclesiae venerandum Cardinalem, prorsus idoneum censemus, cui honorificam huiusmodi missionem fidenter concredamus. Quapropter his Litteris Nostrum Missum Extraordinarium te nominamus ut Avenione diebus XXIII-XXV mensis Iunii hoc anno Nostram geras Personam in festiva recordatione ibidem olim exstantis Sedis Pontificum septingentesima anniversaria memoria magno cum decore celebranda.
Dum ergo sollemnibus celebrationibus Nostro nomine praesidebis, fideles ibi praesentes cohortaberis ad filialem dilectionem Ecclesiae Catholicae et Successoris beati Petri, cui Dominus ipse affirmavit: “Et Ego dico tibi: Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam; et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversum eam” (Mt 16,18). Rogabis quoque eos ut Nostrum pergrave ministerium ex corde pleno amoris orationibus ad Deum elevatis cotidie sustineant, “quia oculi Domini super iustos, et aures eius in preces eorum” (1 Pe 3,12). Nos verum toto animo tuam sustinebimus singularem missionem et iam nunc te, Venerabilis Frater Noster, committimus amantissimae tutelae Sanctae Dei Genetricis Virginis Mariae, Matris Ecclesiae ac Reginae Pacis.
Benedictionem denique Apostolicam, supernae gratiae auspicem atque Nostrae benevolentiae testem, Avenionensi sedulo Pastori, cunctis adstantibus Episcopis, sacerdotibus, religiosis viris et mulieribus, christifidelibus laicis, publicis auctoritatibus omnibusque eventuum participibus nomine Nostro ex toto corde largiaris volumus.
Ex Aedibus Vaticanis, die XVIII mensis Maii, anno MMXVII, Pontificatus Nostri quinto.
FRANCISCUS
(Vatican Radio) The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on Saturday released a communique on the conclusions of the International Debate on Corruption, which was held on Thursday in the Vatican.Organized in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Social Sciences, the debate included about 50 participants from various government and non-governmental organizations, as well as anti-mafia and anti-corruption magistrates.Cardinal Peter Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery, in describing the meeting, said, “We conceived of this meeting to face a phenomenon that leads to the trampling of the dignity of people. Therefore it is up to us, and this Dicastery, to be able to protect and promote respect for the dignity of the person. And for this reason we seek to attract attention to this matter.”Participants, the communique said, agreed that “the fight against corruption and mafias is a question not only of legality but also of civility.”It said...
(Vatican Radio) The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on Saturday released a communique on the conclusions of the International Debate on Corruption, which was held on Thursday in the Vatican.
Organized in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Social Sciences, the debate included about 50 participants from various government and non-governmental organizations, as well as anti-mafia and anti-corruption magistrates.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery, in describing the meeting, said, “We conceived of this meeting to face a phenomenon that leads to the trampling of the dignity of people. Therefore it is up to us, and this Dicastery, to be able to protect and promote respect for the dignity of the person. And for this reason we seek to attract attention to this matter.”
Participants, the communique said, agreed that “the fight against corruption and mafias is a question not only of legality but also of civility.”
It said the group “is working to draft a joint text that will guide further work and future initiatives. Among these, at present there is a need to further explore at international level and in relation to the legal doctrine of the Church, the issue of excommunication for corruption and mafia association.”
Please find below the official English version of the communique:
On 15 June in the Vatican there took place the first “International Debate on Corruption” among the current members of an advisory board of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development dedicated to this global problem, also in its interrelations with mafias and organized crime.
The meeting, organized in collaboration with the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, was attended by around fifty participants, including anti-mafia and anti-corruption magistrates, bishops, figures from Vatican institutions, States and the United Nations, heads of movements, victims, journalists, scholars, intellectuals, and other ambassadors.
The fight against corruption and mafias, it was said, is a question not only of legality but also of civility. Cardinal Peter Turkson thus described the purpose of the meeting: “we conceived of this meeting to face a phenomenon that leads to the trampling of the dignity of people. Therefore it is up to us, and this Dicastery, to be able to protect and promote respect for the dignity of the person. And for this reason we seek to attract attention to this matter”.
Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi then explained that the aim is: “to inform public opinion, to identify concrete steps that can help to arrive at policies and laws that eventually prevent corruption, because corruption is like a woodworm that infiltrates the processes of development for poor countries or in rich countries, which ruins the relations between institutions and people. Therefore, the effort we are making is that of creating a mentality, a culture of justice that combats corruption in favour of the common good”.
The group is working to draft a joint text that will guide further work and future initiatives. Among these, at present there is a need to further explore at international level and in relation to the legal doctrine of the Church, the issue of excommunication for corruption and mafia association.
(Vatican Radio) According to a Pakistani health official, the body monitoring the fight against polio worldwide has commended Pakistan’s efforts against the crippling disease which is scheduled to be eliminated by the end of 2017. Dr. Rana Safdar who oversees the country's fight against polio said on Friday the International Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative released a report this week saying that just two new polio cases outside the endemic reservoirs have been reported in Pakistan since January in 2017. As many as 20 such cases were reported during the same period in 2016, said the IMB report titled, “Every Last Virus”, released on Thursday. Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only three countries left in the world where polio has not been eliminated. Poliomyelitis or polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus which invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter ...
(Vatican Radio) According to a Pakistani health official, the body monitoring the fight against polio worldwide has commended Pakistan’s efforts against the crippling disease which is scheduled to be eliminated by the end of 2017. Dr. Rana Safdar who oversees the country's fight against polio said on Friday the International Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative released a report this week saying that just two new polio cases outside the endemic reservoirs have been reported in Pakistan since January in 2017. As many as 20 such cases were reported during the same period in 2016, said the IMB report titled, “Every Last Virus”, released on Thursday.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only three countries left in the world where polio has not been eliminated.
Poliomyelitis or polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus which invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle such as contaminated water or food and multiplies in the intestine. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.
Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar welcomed the IMB report saying the government is fully committed to this battle against the crippling virus until its complete eradication. Pakistan is scheduled to launch new anti-polio drives in July despite threats from the Taliban who perceive the campaign as part of a Western conspiracy to sterilize Pakistani children.
Catholics of Papua and West Papua provinces in eastern Indonesia have protested against their bishops for not raising thier voices against the marginalization and social injustice they suffer. When the 5 bishops of the two regions recently held their annual meeting at the Maranatha Waena Convent in the Papuan capital of Jayapura, Catholics staged a protest outside voicing their frustration and anger. Archbishop Nicolaus Adi Seputra of Merauke, Bishop Leo Laba Ladjar of Jayapura, Bishop Aloysius Murwito of Agats-Asmat, Bishop John Philip Saklil of Timika, and Bishop Hilarion Datus Lega of Manokwari-Sorong met in in Jayapura to discuss local church matters."The bishops stay silent instead of speaking up more about injustices faced by indigenous people. They let our dignity be torn up by unfair developments in areas such as health, education and even politics," protest organizer, Christianus Dogopia said. He said local governments focus on development progr...
Catholics of Papua and West Papua provinces in eastern Indonesia have protested against their bishops for not raising thier voices against the marginalization and social injustice they suffer. When the 5 bishops of the two regions recently held their annual meeting at the Maranatha Waena Convent in the Papuan capital of Jayapura, Catholics staged a protest outside voicing their frustration and anger.
Archbishop Nicolaus Adi Seputra of Merauke, Bishop Leo Laba Ladjar of Jayapura, Bishop Aloysius Murwito of Agats-Asmat, Bishop John Philip Saklil of Timika, and Bishop Hilarion Datus Lega of Manokwari-Sorong met in in Jayapura to discuss local church matters.
"The bishops stay silent instead of speaking up more about injustices faced by indigenous people. They let our dignity be torn up by unfair developments in areas such as health, education and even politics," protest organizer, Christianus Dogopia said. He said local governments focus on development programs only in urban areas, where the majority are non-Papuans. He pointed to the lack of health care facilities in rural areas inhabited mostly by the indigenous people. "Those living in remote areas cannot go to towns or cities as they do not have enough money even for public transport," Dogopia lamented.
Soleman Itlay, a Papuan activist who deals with health issues, said many indigenous people in remote areas die because of a lack of health care facilities. The banners the protesters held read, 'Where are the shepherds when their sheep are hunted by wolves?'
Responding to the rally, Bishop Murwito promised to meet the protesters’ demand. "We will pay more serious attention to their demands," he said, adding that he and other bishops will work together with priests and parishes to deal with the issues. (Source: UCAN)
Alarmed by a rapidly deteriorating human rights and political climate in Zambia, the three leading Christian Church bodies, known in Zambia, as the “three Church Mother bodies” on Friday issued a strongly worded public statement, at a press conference, critical of Zambian President, Edgar Lungu's leadership. The Zambian Church leaders called for the immediate release of Zambia’s main opposition political leader, Hakainde Hichilema (popularly known as HH) whom President Lungu has confined in a maximum security prison, even before trial for an alleged treason charge, is determined. The three Church mother bodies comprise the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB); the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) which represents Charismatic and Pentecostal Churches as well as the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ). CCZ is the umbrella body for Protestant Churches and Church-related organisations that traditionally are also members of the World Council of ...
Alarmed by a rapidly deteriorating human rights and political climate in Zambia, the three leading Christian Church bodies, known in Zambia, as the “three Church Mother bodies” on Friday issued a strongly worded public statement, at a press conference, critical of Zambian President, Edgar Lungu's leadership. The Zambian Church leaders called for the immediate release of Zambia’s main opposition political leader, Hakainde Hichilema (popularly known as HH) whom President Lungu has confined in a maximum security prison, even before trial for an alleged treason charge, is determined.
The three Church mother bodies comprise the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB); the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) which represents Charismatic and Pentecostal Churches as well as the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ). CCZ is the umbrella body for Protestant Churches and Church-related organisations that traditionally are also members of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
The statement by the Church leaders is a stinging rebuke to President Lungu and demonstrates a show of solidarity that has recently been missing among Zambia’s Church leaders. It also underscores frustration with the Zambian President, Edgar Lungu’s vindictive style of leadership.
“Yes, we in the Church Leadership are not repentant; Zambia eminently qualifies to be branded a dictatorship. The fact of the matter is that only leadership that does not have the will of the people on its side or thinks it does not have the will of the people on its side uses state institutions to suppress that same will of the people,” the Church leaders said. In essence, they were backing an earlier statement of Zambian Catholic Bishops that labelled President Lungu as a dictator. Zambia has in the past been known as a relatively peaceful and stable democracy.
There is not much love lost between President Lungu and the leader of the main opposition UPND party, Hichilema. When the latter did not give way to the President’s motorcade in April, this year, Lungu unleashed the full force of Zambia’s state machinery against Hichilema. He has since imprisoned the opposition leader and charged him with treason. It is an offence that carries a death sentence. Amnesty International says the treason charges against the opposition UPND president Hichilema are designed to harass, intimidate and deter him from doing his political work.
Jointly presented to the media, the statement issued by the Church leaders is signed by Lusaka Archbishop and President of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB), Telesphore Mpundu; Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) President, Bishop Alfred Kalembo and Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia Board Chairperson, Bishop Paul Mususu. Archbishop Mpundu told the media that efforts for behind the scenes diplomacy failed as President Lungu declined to meet the clerics.
In the statement of the Church leaders, the Zambia Police Service is singled out for its lack of professionalism and brutality.
“The indictment of the Police Service as being unprofessional was not invented by the three Church Mother Bodies; it is found written in black and white in the judgment of Magistrate Greenwell Malumani which tells us that the conduct of the Police in this case was not in line with the law and Police Professional ethics! Quoting the learned Judge, the Episode ‘exposed the Police’s incompetence, unprofessionalism and criminal behaviour in the manner they handled the arrest of Hakainde Hichilema,’” reads the statement, in part.
The Church leaders further criticise diminishing freedoms in Zambia: A growing culture of intimidation by state agents; worsening human rights situation and in particular, the erosion of press freedom. They give the closure of Zambia’s leading independent newspaper, ‘The Post’ as an example to back their assertions. They have called on President Lungu's government to initiate national dialogue as a way out of the political impasse.
Predictably, President Lungu’s supporters took to social media to vent their anger against the Church leaders though the majority of citizens seemed relieved that the Church was taking a strong moral stand against injustice and the authoritarian style of President Lungu’s government.
(Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va)
(See the full text of the Public Statement by the Church leaders below)
A STATEMENT BY THE THREE CHURCH MOTHER BODIES ON THE STATE OF THE NATION
“The Truth will Set You Free” (John 8:32)
1. We the leaders of the three Church Mother Bodies namely: the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) are saddened at the continued state of political tension in the country and the blatant lack of political will by our leaders to address the root causes of what is obtaining. As Church leaders who have a God-given mandate of exercising the prophetic mission in our nation and in our time, we cannot afford to simply stand aside and look. Our country today stands at the crossroads and we are in a crisis. We face many challenges related to governance; the muzzling of people’s freedoms and human rights violations. As Zambians, we all need to examine our conscience, seek the truth and work towards bringing back hope to our people.
2. We are also mindful of the timely message of Prophet Micah: “What is good has been explained to you, man; this is what Yahweh asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). We strongly believe that more than ever before, our political leaders need to pay heed to this message and put it into practice.
3. As the three Church Mother Bodies, we have always said that our prophetic voice on national issues is only motivated by our wish to see the Government do better and succeed. It is in that spirit that we have for several weeks engaged State House officials and sought an appointment to meet the President, Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu. Our aim was to bring to his attention, some national issues that are of great concern to the Church. Now that we have not been allowed to succeed along that path, we have decided to issue this statement to let the powers-that- be and the people of Zambia know our position on what is happening in the nation.
Zambia Motorcade Treason and Plot!
4. Actions by the government of President Edgar Lungu in imprisoning the opposition leader Mr. Hakainde Hichilema are viewed with growing amazement and alarm. Hakainde Hichilema’s arrest for treason was at first dismissed as an intimidatory gimmick by President Lungu after the so-called “clash of the motorcades”. Hichilema was arrested on 10th April 2017; and days behind bars for Hichilema have turned into weeks and now months (2) for the leader of the opposition UPND. In addition, the view that President Lungu is creating a new dictatorship is fast gaining ground as was expressed in the statement issued by ZCCB on 23rd April 2017 that, “The country is in all, except in designation a dictatorship and if it is not yet, then we are not far from it.” With the current state of affairs, it is difficult to see how the UPND can easily recognize the legitimacy of Lungu’s re-election in August 2016.
5. Hichilema has been in custody since he was arrested in a late night raid on his home by heavily armed Police Service personnel who used unprecedented force and brutality in apprehending just one unarmed citizen. The State Police brought along dogs of the German shepherd breed that defecated in the vehicle meant to carry Hakainde Hichilema. Under whose instructions were the police behaving in that way? The Inspector General or his Commander in Chief?
6. In this country, only senior citizens well over 60 years can remember the British Colonial Administration using dogs on us Africans. It was unthinkable that a Zambian Government would sink so low as to unleash dogs on its own people. The British have been gone for 53 years now but we are still using the same tactics to intimidate our own people. It is true then that oppressed people just take on the behavior and style of their oppressors. Are we liberated as a nation or are we still mentally chained in the ways of our former rulers that include the One-Party dictatorship of 1973-1991?
7. Outrage over Hichilema’s arrest and incarceration is growing within and outside our country: The USA, European Union, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa (where two opposition leaders of the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Democratic Alliance have voiced their outrage). Even Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change has sharply criticized Lungu’s actions because it sees the similarities with their own political leaders across the Zambezi.
8. The present PF Administration is avoiding to address the root causes of the present political crisis and tension in this country. Leadership, particularly at national level, requires integrity, truthfulness, honesty and sincerity. We believe that the political leadership has failed on this score. “The Truth will set you free,” so says our Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:32). There is no substitute for the Truth. There cannot be national reconciliation and healing through manipulation of truth. The kind of leadership we have now is the one that allows law breaking as long as it benefits the powers that-be. If this is not dictatorship, then what is it?
9. The political leadership must admit that the situation in the country is characterized by tension; the country is polarized. The politicians of the Administration must not ignore what is obtaining in Zambia today; it is a contest between good and evil. The Church through its leaders is determined to stand on the side of good. We are fully aware that more often than not, the fight for Justice is not a path filled with many pilgrims, but is a lonely journey by courageous leaders and a small number of followers. It is often repeated that all evils needs to thrive is silence from good people. It does not matter that only the Church raises the voice or just one leader in the Church raises his voice. The fact remains that the state of the nation today is exactly what the Church says it is, namely, a dictatorship in which force and violence are used to intimidate the population and subdue opposition of any kind by means of institutions such as the Police, ZRA, the Judiciary and the Legislature, among others. Those holding public office are now used to violate human rights of individuals and groups of people, especially those perceived to be opposed to the political establishment.
10. Institutional violence is a fundamental measure of a dictatorship. This is why the ZCCB stated that “the political environment in Zambia today is characterized by manipulation, patronage and intimidation of perceived government opponents. We urge the government to stop using state security institutions to intimidate its own nationals. The Police Service in particular must be professional and impartial in carrying out their duties of maintain law and order” (Cf. Pastoral Statement of the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), Issued on Thursday, 23rd January 2015, #5.1).
11. Yes, we in the Church Leadership are not repentant; Zambia eminently qualifies to be branded a dictatorship. The fact of the matter is that only leadership that does not have the will of the people on its side or thinks it does not have the will of the people on its side uses state institutions to suppress that same will of the people.
12. It is short sighted to proclaim that the closure of the Post Newspaper does not constitute lack of press freedom. Yet it is an indicator to the disposition of the powers-that-be. We Church leaders maintain that the presence of 80 radio stations, online newspapers and independent television stations in Zambia does not mean press and media freedom. Media and press freedom is about journalists and media institutions doing their work without fear, intimidation and threats; it is about news editors publishing and airing what they judge as newsworthy for public good, especially in holding public officers to account. It is about upholding democratic governance that gives public and civil society institutions the chance to play their rightful role of providing checks and balances to the political establishment without looking over their shoulders for fear of closure, arrest or attack. Media freedom borders on the UNDHR Article 19 which says among other things that “every person has a right to make his or her mind, to think what they like, to say what they think and to share their ideas with people in any way they feel befitting.” What happened to MUVI TV? It was closed after the August 2016 elections and there was such a massive presence of the police immediately following the Mongu Presidential Motorcades Saga that MUVI TV was not allowed to report on that incident. What happened to the Post? It was fixed as the President had promised! What happened to Komboni Radio and Itezhi-tezhi Radio? What happened to Post Newspaper Journalist Peter Sukwa and his counterpart Kelvin Phiri from Feel Free Radio in Chipata at the hands of PF sponsored thugs in Eastern Province? If these are not signs of dictatorship, what are they signs of? Certainly not of a democratic dispensation!
13. It is a fallacy to postulate that the arrest of one man cannot make this country into a dictatorship. We in the Church leadership think otherwise. It is not the numbers of the afflicted victims that count. It is the principle. Theft is theft whether one is dealing with One Kwacha or a Billion Kwacha. It is how state institutions and agents apply the law when dealing with “one of the least of the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 25:31-46). The dictum that God knows how to count only up to one when it comes to his children is the truth that makes us realize just how each one of us is important in God’s eyes because we are all children. That we should treat one another no less than God himself treats us is the evergreen litmus test which defines how civilized society is!
14. The indictment of the Police Service as being unprofessional was not invented by the three Church Mother Bodies; it is found written in black and white in the judgment of Magistrate Greenwell Malumani which tells us that the conduct of the Police in this case was not in line with the law and Police Professional ethics! Quoting the learned Judge, the Episode “exposed the Police’s incompetence, unprofessionalism and criminal behavior in the manner they handled the arrest of Hakainde Hichilema.”
15. After he was arrested, Hakainde Hichilema was subjected to inhuman treatment. He refused to go into the police vehicle littered with dog faecal matter which the Police wanted to use to transport him and his co-accused; at Lilayi Police Compound, he was illegally and allegedly tortured without access to beddings even though the law says one is innocent until proved guilty by courts of law. Weeks before the Mongu Presidential “Motorcade Saga,” a State Agent Kampyongo and a PF Agent Mumbi Phiri clearly told the nation at different occasions that HH would be charged with treason and treated like a rat in the process. True to their words, HH was arrested on a treason charge in a manner that cannot be said to be human because it violated both his constitutional and human rights. Now Hakainde Hichilema has been transferred to the Maximum Security Prison even though he has not been pronounced guilty after the due process of the law. He was tied like a dog because he refused to go. HH is not an ordinary criminal but a political prisoner who should be treated with respect. We therefore call for the release of HH from prison. If he is charged with Treason, an un-bailable offence, let him be under house arrest as the trial goes on instead of treating him as if he has already been found guilty. Our thoughts and prayers also go to other political prisoners who are innocently suffering in several Correctional Centres. History has an uncanny knack of repeating itself. The first Republican President with some of his famous/fellow freedom fighters were imprisoned and restricted to remote areas by the colonial administrators. In fact, the option of house arrest and restriction to defined areas was pursued by the Kaunda and Chiluba regimes and could have been considered by the present regime. That notwithstanding, the late President Chiluba was imprisoned by President Kenneth Kaunda. President Chiluba later threw President Kaunda into maximum security prison and he had to be rescued by late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere! Late President Micheal Sata was thrown into Chimbokaila Prison by President Mwanawasa. Mwanawasa did not live long enough to be thrown into prison by Michael Sata. However, the historical reconciliation between President Mwanawasa and Michael Sata still ring fresh in our memories. Today, we have HH thrown into maximum prison by President Lungu; we leave it to you to guess what the future is likely to be!
16. The crux of the matter is that the UPND challenged the Presidential Election Result as provided for in the Zambian Constitution but the petition was not heard due to a technicality. On the other hand, the PF are demanding that the UPND must accept the presidency which they challenged in the first place. Since the matter was not heard in court and is now out of court, this impasse can only be resolved by using an open, sincere and respectful dialogue, with both parties open to discussion and compromise where necessary, for the sake of this country and the future of our children. Intimidation, threats, arbitrary arrests, even the State of Emergency promised us by the President cannot succeed in diffusing the political tension we have put ourselves in, thanks to the intransigence of our political leaders! We appeal to both the Party in the government and the Opposition to put the interest of our great country above their own.
17. Indeed, what has happened to us as a nation? Where are our values as human beings and as Christians? Is this what it means to be a “Christian Nation”? How can we celebrate the incarceration of one of our own flesh and blood being taken to a maximum prison even before he is found guilty and keep quiet? We in the Church leadership feel for HH, for his young children, for his wife, relatives and friends. The pain they feel is ours and it is also the pain of the entire nation, whether we like to admit or not. Not only that, we are greatly concerned that the inhumane treatment of some of our nationals is likely to poison the next generation.
18. All the three Church Mother Bodies (CCZ, EFZ and ZCCB) have prison ministries whereby we visit prisons and attend to the spiritual needs of the convicts. We do it not because we condone their actions or their wrong doing. We do it because they are our fellow human beings; they are our sisters and brothers. We do it because it is a biblical requirement on our part as our Lord Jesus reminds us: “I was in prison and you came to see me” (Matthews 25:35-37;42-43). Everyone, convicts included, deserves our love, compassion and support, not condemnation, for the only one who has the power to condemn, God, does not condemn but redeems us and loves us into life. As Christians, one fundamental value we should cherish and keep nourishing is compassion for those going through hard times regardless of our relationship with them. Hatred is the exact opposite of Christianity.
19. In this nation, where has compassion and solidarity with the suffering gone? What does it mean to be a Christian Nation? Why do we take pleasure in the misfortune of others? We harbor hatred and resentment against each other and waste a lot of time and energy in a sickening destruction of each other instead of building one another. Let us use this negative energy in acknowledging, appreciating our rich diversity of tribes and cultures, and building each other to the stature of a great One Zambia – One Nation. Tribalism is a cancer that can kill a nation if not constantly kept at bay. The political leadership has a sacred mandate to keep this nation united and must desist from statements that go to polarize people into ethnic groups that thrive on ethnic bigotry. We have only one country; let us cherish and support one another for the greater glory of God.
20. In conclusion, we demand that efforts be made to have an all inclusive National Indaba which should address the many challenges we are facing. We also demand that government takes the lead in organizing and effecting the proposed National Indaba. As we have stated before, the Church stands ready to mediate but is also open to other eminent and neutral persons mediating. Further, we expect H.E. Mr. Edgar C. Lungu, to act as Republican President whose aim is not only to protect the good of the members of his party (the PF), but also and more importantly, be the guardian of ALL ZAMBIANS, regardless of their political affiliation. We firmly believe that this nation can overcome all our current political differences through genuine dialogue aimed at true reconciliation and national building.
Signed:
Archbishop T-G Mpundu (ZCCB PRESIDENT)
Bishop Alfred Kalembo (CCZ PRESIDENT)
Bishop Paul Mususu (BOARD CHAIRPERSON – EFZ)
Issued to the Press on Friday, 16th June 2017
