Catholics ready to mediate in political dialogue
By Staff Reporter
Zambia’s Roman Catholic bishops say they are ready to be part of the leading team in the stalled ‘dialogue’ process between the ruling PF’s President Edgar Lungu and the opposition UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema.
Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) secretary general Fr Cleophas Lungu, said the Catholic Bishops were more than ready to be part of the leading team in the dialogue process.
President Lungu had appealed for necessary space for the church to join the leadership of the dialogue process.
Fr Lungu told a local TV station in Lusaka that the church had always been ready to collaborate with any stakeholder not only in the dialogue process, but also in facilitating reconciliation.
He said the church was further prepared to engage all political parties in the country in the dialogue process and be able to provide spiritual guidance to the nation, adding that the Catholic Church was also more than ready to collaborate with any international organisation such as the Commonwealth in the dialogue process.
Zambia is in the process of planning a national political dialogue meeting aimed at ironing out political tension in the country after the 2016 presidential and general election.
Commonwealth tasked Nigerian-born Professor Ibrahim Gambari to initiate the dialogue process between the ruling party, the opposition and civil society organisations.
Meanwhile, Caritas Zambia has urged all stakeholders in the planned national political dialogue to ensure the process is rooted on Christian virtues such as justice and peace.
Caritas Zambia executive director Eugene Kabilika, said the dialogue process should be sincere and all-inclusive.
“This reconciliation itself must be firmly rooted on Christian values of truth, mercy, justice and peace,” Kabilika said.
He further called on all well-meaning Zambians to participate in actions that would help bring Zambia back to the correct trajectory, where human rights were truly respected, transparency and accountability was cherished.
He said the country further needed an atmosphere where poor people, especially small-scale farmers were protected from displacements.
“Only genuine, sincere and inclusive dialogue aimed at national reconciliation is the long-term solution. This reconciliation itself must be firmly rooted in the Christian values of Truth, Mercy, Justice and Peace,” he said.
He reiterated that the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) stood ready to collaborate with all key stakeholders in Zambia and lead it into a genuine process of dialogue and reconciliation anchored on truth and Justice.
