Don’t release HH-Canisius Banda.

Sun, 30 Jul 2017 12:22:14 +0000

By AARON CHIYANZO

RECONCILIATION should not warrant the release of incarcerated UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema while overlooking the feeling of the other 20,000 plus inmates as there are no special prisoners, says former UPND vice president for politics Canisius Banda.

Dr Banda said in an interview with the Daily Nation in as much as the reconciliation the Catholics Bishops were pursuing was noble, they ought to understand that there were over 20,000 other inmates equally important.

He said that the reconciliation process should not warrant the release of HH while overlooking the feeling of the other 20,000 plus inmates as there were no special prisoners.

Dr Banda said that Mr Hichilema was a prisoner just like any other and that he was bound to be treated no different from the others.

He said that Zambia had laws, which must be obeyed by all citizens and that using the same laws, all people who broke them should be appropriately dealt with.

Dr Banda warned that under the guise of reconciliation, dangerous criminals might be set free, an act that society might live to regret.

“We must be careful that as we seek reconciliation we do not abet or condone or promote the very vices and evils that endanger society.

“There are no special prisoners. All prisoners have one thing in common, and that is their loss of liberty through their own aberrant conduct, which conduct is at variance with the acceptable morals of society” he said.

“It is hard for darkness to reconcile with light. What the Catholics are pursuing is noble. Though noble, it is not complete. Their goal must be societal and not merely individual,” said Dr Banda.

Dr Banda explained that the reason reconciliation occurred in the world over was to re-set those involved.

He however warned that when one sought the downfall of the other, and those positions were maintained by the two parties, reconciliation was questionable.

And Dr Banda said that the parties that were being reconciled must each first acknowledge the folly of their positions and that barring this, the whole reconciliation process becomes an empty charade, an endeavuor in pretense and deception.