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By GIDEON NYENDWA
MUTOTWE Kafwaya has urged the UPND to start cleaning up the perception that the ruling party has been anti Catholic Church and that is why the church has been a victim of persecution and victimisation, in the three years the new dawn has been in power.
Mr Kafwaya, the Patriotic Front (PF) Member of Parliament said there was no church in Zambia that had strained relationship with the UPND government in the eyes of the public than the Catholic Church.
Mr Kafwaya said there had been speculation to the effect that the UPND government had embarked on a crusade to contain the Catholic Church in Zambia and that it was therefore not surprising that there had been heightened harassment of the church along with its Bishops and priests.
Mr Kafwaya said UPND was on record having branded His Grace, Archbishop Dr Alick Banda as Lucifer after he came to the defence to Fr Anthony Salangeta told the regime that Zambians needed food instead of graphs.
“This for me shows that the relationship between the UPND and the Catholics Church is bad. May the UPND, in their eyes it is okay to have strained relationship with the Catholic Church but for me, the perceptions is bad,” Mr Kafwaya said.
He said just recently Archbishop Dr Alick Banda, had his office, the Cathedral of the Child Jesus barricaded by the police in a bid to prevent him from conducting mass for the 10th memorial anniversary for late President Michael Sata.
Mr Kafwaya recalled that the Zambia Police, with impunity raided the office of Bishop Clement Mulenga in Kabwe for allowing Zambia’s Sixth President Edgar Lungu to pay a courtesy call on him.
He said a Catholic Priest, Fr Chewe Mukosa in Ndola was summoned by the police after delivering his homily on the high cost of living and that the State was ready to have him arrested but was only saved after their plans backfired.
“Police in Ndola summoned a Catholic Priest Chewe Mukosa for questioning for preaching against load shedding and high cost of living when he delivered his Good Friday message. The call-out notice was signed by a Detective Inspector Chisala, who demanded that Fr Chewe Mukosa reports himself to police for investigations,” Mr Kafwaya said.He said UPND should begin to take some steps to clean the relationship with the Catholic Church so that they could live in harmony like they were doing with the other churches.
Meanwhile Mr Kafwaya said Zambians were stressed under the UPND because of the high cost of living, poor leadership from the UPND and the country was entirely going in a wrong direction.
