UPND should stop attacks on Dr Alick Banda

UPND should stop attacks on Dr Alick Banda

IT IS regrettable that the United Party for National Development (UPND) and its proxies have continued to personally attack Lusaka Archbishop Dr Alick Banda. This should be condemned in the strongest terms possible. The UPND, through its stooges like Mark Simuuwe, believes that the recent statement by the Lusaka Presbyteral Council of the Archdiocese of Lusaka on the proposed Constitution amendments was done at the instigation of Archbishop Dr Banda. But they are dead wrong.  What kind of thinking is this? What kind of arrogance and impunity is this?

Before addressing Zambians on issues of national importance, the UPND should educate themselves to avoid misleading the public and exhibiting such ignorance as was witnessed yesterday at one of those now endless, emotionally charged press briefings.  Based on our limited understanding, the Archdiocese of Lusaka consists of 12 deaneries, each of which is administered by a priest.  They are Roma, Luangwa, Ibex, Chawama, Matero, Kanyama, Chilanga, Kafue, Longacres, Chelstone, Kabanana and Mumbwa.

The Archdiocese of Lusaka is made up of these 12 deaneries.  This means that the full Presbyteral Council consisting of 12 priests (deans) approved the statement on constitutional amendments, and Archbishop Dr Banda signed it only in his capacity as the head of the Catholic Church in Lusaka.

Instead of addressing the concerns the statement raised over the Constitution amendment, Simuuwe and his fellow sycophants opted to attack the persona of Archbishop Banda. It is clear that the UPND does not learn.

At this juncture, Zambians will not be persuaded by anything Simuuwe and his associates say in their desperate bid to persuade them that the country urgently needs to amend the Constitution before next year’s general election. At this point, so close to the closure of the electoral cycle, it would be like “putting lipstick on a pig” to attempt to defend constitutional amendments. This will not end well and it is an exercise in futility. It is strange that the ruling party is blind to this reality.

Now more than ever, Zambians want the UPND to provide prudent and effective leadership to tackle the many challenges they are facing, including the high cost of living, the high price of mealie-meal, the crippling energy deficit, high fuel prices and the availability of medicines in hospitals to reduce the disease burden.

Zambians still recall that during campaigns prior to the 2021 general elections, the UPND promised to reduce the cost of living, reduce the pump price of fuel to K12 per litre, end load shedding and uphold fundamental rights and freedoms.  Instead of justifying constitutional amendments that the Zambian people have overwhelmingly rejected, Simuuwe and his colleagues should be expending their energies on resolving these issues.

But clearly, the UPND has reneged and failed to deliver on its promises. It is a sign of failure when a political party resorts to personally attacking those who remind them of their promises and branding them as sympathisers of the opposition Patriotic Front (PF). It is laughable to link Archbishop Dr Banda to a political party. This ignorance is dangerous. Let Simuuwe and his cabal do some basic research on the Catholic Church’s social teachings and see what motivates the prelate to speak boldly for the voiceless.

We have said it before here and we say it again that the “isolate and lynch a priest” strategy adopted by the UPND is an exercise in futility. It will not end well. The Catholic Church,  through its priests, has time immemorial used its social teachings to speak for the voiceless on various issues affecting the people and it will not stop now because President Hakainde Hichilema and his New Dawn administration do not want to be criticised.

Maybe they want the revered senior clergyman to also reduce himself to a shameless praise-singing bootlicker like the disgraced former preacher, Dr Nevers Mumba, but they know Archbishop Dr Banda cannot stoop that low.

It is bad leadership not to listen to the concerns of the people. Simuuwe and his colleagues can use the arrogance of numbers in Parliament to bulldoze Constitution amendments now, but Zambians will have the final say in the 2026 general elections. They can’t be pushed around at the whim of politicians.

Our humble advice to the desperate lot is stop the attacks on Archbishop Dr Banda and address the issues affecting the suffering majority Zambians.