By Mubanga Mubanga
Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka Alick Banda says late Republican president Michael Chilufya Sata refused to participate in the privatisation of national assets because he believed in working hard.
Speaking during Sata’s 10th memorial anniversary, Bishop Banda said the late president did not believe in enriching himself at the expense of the Zambian people.
“At the height of Zambia’s regrettable privatisation when many of his peers were busy enriching themselves by selling state enterprises to themselves, he declined to participate in this economic sangwapo. He refused to have his fingers in the national pie, opting instead to work hard and serve his people,” he said.
Bishop Banda added that Sata was a very determined person but he did not believe in getting things through hook or crook.
“President Sata was a man of unusual determination, who had a knack for vital infrastructure development. A man who built things from scratch, and ensured they came to fruition,” Bishop Banda said. “President Sata never believed grabbing things through hook or crook means but rather built up things himself with drastic or pragmatic skill.”
Bishop Banda also said Sata was proud of being Catholic and he was not afraid to show it everywhere he went.
“He rose from a councilor to become president of our countr … is a story of faith. There will be no Michael Sata, his faith in God, his faith in Jesus Christ and indeed his faith in the Catholic Church,” Bishop Banda said.
Meanwhile, PF faction vice president Given Lubinda said what happened when the police attempted to stop Bishop Banda from entering the Cathedral of the Child Jesus was unprecedented, as the same never even happened under British colonialism.
“Even when Zambia was a colony never ever did we hear Archbishop of any Church, even the British Anglican Church or the universal Church, the Catholic, or any other Church,” Lubinda said.
He said the decision to stop the Bishop from entering his Church was the first time it had happened in the history of Zambia.
Before the start of the memorial, the Cathedral was sealed off by police as they were denying people from accessing the premises.
But Archbishop Banda together with his Lawyer John Sangwa went and confronted the police over their actions.
The police failed to give a convincing answer but after some time, the men and women in uniform left the Cathedral leaving the memorial program to proceed without any disruptions.
