By Laura Miti
The Zambia @60 Pastoral letter released by the Council of Catholic Bishops, at the weekend, in the main, addressed issues that need to be. An example is the first substantive point in the letter – the endless arrest of opposition leaders for political reasons.
I noted that the Bishops made sure to emphasise that their unhappiness is not with arrests of opposition leaders on corruption charges. That was wise.
The problem is arrests for what comes across as political work. It is abuse of power by the government, really.
Other parts I agreed with were the need to make recruitment to the Judicial Complaints Commission and, indeed, the Judiciary itself, transparent and completely removed from the presidency.
I also liked the call to make the use of properties confiscated from those convicted of aquiring the said properties corruptly, transparent. To transparency, I would add that the handover of these properties to public use should be speeded up. There is so much need for infrastructure in Zambia.
I found two parts in letter iffy and somewhat amusing. In my view, the Bishops should have been advised to leave these sections out by those whose duty it is to edit the letters.
The first was under the heading – High Cost of Living. The problematic part, for me, read – the exchange rate, which was expected to stabilise on the day the new government was sworn in, as we were promised, has instead remained volatile….
Hmm ama Bishop🤭.
That kind of political jibe should be left to the opposition and ordinary citizens. That line is, so obviously, a personal taunt of the President that it, unfortunately, takes away from what you say in that section. Importantly, it adds nothing. It’s just a snide remark.
Secondly is the call for an apology, is it from government, to Archbishop Alick Banda for insults that were directed at him by the ruling party “Chief Executive Officer”.
Me thinks that, that demand for the apology has no place in an Independence address. As the Archbishop is one of its signatories, the trajectory into his personal grievances makes a letter, meant to take the higher road, acquire personal undertones.
I’m not saying the Bishops should not stand up for one of their own, when he is attacked. It’s just that the Archbishop’s personal injuries have no place in a pastoral letter on a monumental national anniversary.
It would have been best for the Bishops to write a separate letter, to follow up the one they did before, that would address only insult to the Archbishop.
Note, again, to editors of such statements. Read them carefully to ensure nothing personal, or that can be construed as such, makes it’s way in.
Remember, Pastoral Letters by Catholic Bishops have always had a vaulted place in Zambian discourse. Every word in them should be carefully considered.
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