Bivan Saluseki
11 June 2001
THE church in Zambia is never interested in the political careers of individuals, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) chairman Fr. Joe Komakoma has said.
Speaking to Post journalists when he attended the paper's Friday editorial meeting, Fr. Komakoma said recently, the church had been accused of being political and siding with the opposition. "That is a gross misunderstanding," he said.
Fr. Komakoma said the church stood together with politicians for the sake of defending the republican constitution and not for anything else. Fr. Komakoma said the church's support was based on real issues. He said beyond the defence of the Constitution, the church had no interest in political careers of individuals.
Fr. Komakoma said it would be erroneous for anyone to think that the church and other organisations that formed up the Oasis forum were behind any politician or a group of them. He said he would like to see Parliament being stronger than the Presidency and a united opposition.
"The church would like to see the opposition form one block. The chances are that, that strong opposition may not come about when 100 people want to become presidents," said Fr. Komakoma.
He complained that the state owned but government controlled media had let the people of Zambia down by playing down real issues. "The state owned newspapers have really betrayed us," complained Fr. Komakoma. He said state owned newspapers relied on the public's tax to operate and should therefore be accountable to the people.
"The two papers have been atrocious," said Fr. Komakoma. "This has been perpetrated by the state owned media when they built certain individuals as NGOs," said Fr. Komakoma.
He urged The Post journalists to continue bringing out issues such as the case of home affairs minister Peter Machungwa.
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