Let dialogue with Church be first step towards wider engagement

By Daily Revelation Editor

Speaking at a Church-State dialogue prayer breakfast held at Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka yesterday when he met leaders of all Church mother bodies, President Hakainde Hichilema said the government was committed to work with the Church leaders in meeting the challenges that the nation faced.

He said the government was not sufficient to resolve challenges facing the country but needed the Church and other stakeholders.

He said at this stage unity was not an option but a must.

The President said the Church had a special role to play in bonding the country together.

He also urged the Church to use their God given leadership and opportunity to deliver the message of unity across the 10 provinces of Zambia in this unitary state.

The move taken by Hakainde to dialogue with the Church in challenging times such as this is very encouraging, and such interactions must be enhanced in the national recovery process as the President himself rightly put it that the government alone was not sufficient to handle such challenges alone.

It’s true, the problems facing this country are too huge and the government alone cannot handle them, but they should of course take a leading role in finding solutions to them.

This leadership places a huge responsibility upon those in government to also extend such interactions even to groups who do not agree with them. In saying so we do not imply that the Church is in disagreement with everything about the administration. We are simply urging the administration to extend such interactions to the opposition in the country as well and all the other stakeholders that don’t sing from the same hymn book as theirs.

Meeting up with the Church is the first step in the right direction. Next is to actually call for something resembling a national Indaba where the country can discuss the very serious issues affecting the nation. Maturity and statehood entails being magnanimous enough to sit on the same table with those you disagree with in order to find solutions. There is nowhere where it is written that positive ideas on national building will only be found in those holding the reins of power, and neither is it provided that solutions will only come from those who oppose the government. It is time that this country learnt to appreciate that good ideas can also be found in those we do not like.

Zambia is facing a lot of problems right now, which require unity of purpose to address. But that will require those in government admitting that things are indeed bad and they need the concerted effort of everybody to address the problems, not just some stakeholders they feel they are comfortable with. The government should actually initiate efforts to engage all the stakeholders. Those in the opposition have for instance asked the administration to call for a national indaba, however, those calls have been scorned upon and have never been seriously responded to. This is against the spirit of unity they are actually calling for in the country. However, we hope the dialogue they engaged in with the Church yesterday will mark a starting point for better things.

As for those in the opposition, they are key stakeholders but they are not the only stakeholders. Therefore we hope if ever the administration showed inclination for wider interactions, they will not go to town celebrating that they have forced the administration to heed their demands. There is a tendency from those in the opposition to try to take credit and make political capital from some of their positive suggestions those in government take on board. This too goes against the spirit of unity the nation requires in critical times such as this one.