By BARNABAS ZULU
CATHOLIC Priest Father Andrew Mukosa has advised the UPND government to tone down and stop harassing the church because they are de-campaigning themselves.
Father Mukosa said it is so unfortunate that State agents went to harass the Catholic Priest in Kawambwa when Citizens First president Mr Harry Kalaba attended a church service.
In an interview yesterday, Father Mukosa said it was too much of UPND harassing the church and its clergy.
“What these people are doing is very bad and is basically decampaigning them. Everyone has a right to freely assemble including Mr Harry Kalaba or any other person,” he said. “But these so-called government officials want to tarnish their image by always attacking and harassing the church and its officials.”
He stated that the path that they have taken is only making the opposition popular.
“Their actions are making the opposition more popular because people are now asking what it is that these opposition have that they are being harassed at every corner. So, they must tone down or give the opposition a sympathy vote, which will eventually kick them out of power,” he said.
“If they concentrated on delivery, they would have achieved a lot.
But they have spent the last four years blaming the Patriotic Front (PF) and next year we have elections. So, what will happen? Are they going to say we have failed because of PF? When people elect leaders, they are doing so to sort out problems not every time blaming the PF,” he said.
Father Mukosa further said UPND must respect people’s rights and learn from the past, as they too were being harassed, and as a result the PF were booted out.
“President Hakainde Hichilema came to my church and I protected him, just like I have done with other opposition leaders. So, let him learn from the past.
He has several issues to attend to. We have serious load shedding, the cost of living is high and it’s shocking that instead of directing their energies on finding solutions, they are busy attacking the church and the opposition.
Everyone has alright to assemble and that must be respected. And it’s immoral to always harass the church,” he said.
