Use State House for honest dialogue – priest
By Tony Nkhoma
STATE House must be used to promote constructive dialogue and not destructive dialogue, Catholic priest Fr Gladson Phiri has said.
Fr Phiri said Bill 7 should not constantly and perpetually separate or make the relationship between the State and the Church sour.
He told The Mast in an interview Zambians should come first before any constitutional amendment because the Constitution was not for an individual.
“Remember that before any bill, before any constitution, there are human beings. These are the human beings who are offshoots into a church, into a state, and so they have the responsibility to abridge anything that benefits either side of the coin than the written document separating bigger institutes like the Church and the State as perceived,” he said.
Fr Phiri said the country was witnessing a sour relationship between the State and the Church arising from Bill 7 because of lack of consensus.
He said despite some clauses made available to the public, some of the proposed changes to the Constitution were the ones raising serious eyebrows.
“Perhaps there are certain other sensitive or suspected clauses, articles, which may not have been made public to some of us responsible citizens, and perhaps this is what is raising eyebrows from the Church’s perspective,” Fr Phiri said.
He said Zambians wanted the truth on Bill 7 which had created a narrow political space among stakeholders in the country.
“Most of us, we know that the concerns are why the rush, why this time, why the process has so many questions than answers, why is it so ambiguous, why has it created a certain political space which is too narrow?” Fr Phiri asked.
He said a constitutional amendment was not a minor undertaking but one that required careful consideration and not one that championed personal interest.
“The structural changes, they are not minor tweaks. They are very serious tweaks, major I want to call them now, at least for today. People would want to say, is there any meaningful public consultation that relates to the process, that’s why the process is raising a lot of questions,” Fr Phiri said.
He said the Constitution belonged to the people and not to political elites.
Zambia could not be run by pointing and condemning the past because the present wZambias the most important.
“I propose that we ensure changes, preserve democratic processes and reduce the ambiguity, reduce the vagueness of that Bill 7, and reduce the speed at which Bill 7 is accelerating at. I know most of us Zambians, we are about to promote constructive dialogue, not destructive dialogue.
