We celebrate Archbishop Mpundu’s life!

By Daily Revelation Editor

The nation is mourning late retired Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka Telesphore Mpundu, who passed away three days ago at the age of 78.

As usually happens following death, messages from people of all walks of life, are pouring in in honour of the life of Bishop Mpundu. And indeed he deserves the outpouring of love and honour for the services he rendered while on this earth.

From the many accolades due to him, Bishop Mpundu will be remembered for his principled positions he took over several matters of public interest. He is not someone who shied away especially when it came to taking power to account. Many generations of Zambians will remember how the late Archbishop took a principled position against successive presidents and their administrations whenever they veered or strayed from the rightful path they were supposed to steer the nation on.

Expectedly, those principled positions, which never changed colour depending on which leader was in office at any given time, did not endear him with those in power and their sympathisers. And they did not just dismiss him silently, but also went after him, with all manner of insults and slander. But the more they insulted him, the more they slandered him, the more he also reinforced his firm principled positions on several national manners.

From his many principled positions, many will remember how he firmly stood against the incarceration of current President Hakainde Hichilema, then as an opposition leader over the treason charges he was facing under the administration of late Edgar Lungu. We know that many have forgotten, or deliberately chosen to forget his actions around that time for political convenience. But he indeed firmly stood in the defence of Hichilema. Understandably, especially in this country where many prioritise party loyalty over the public good – that and his many actions and criticism of Lungu’s administration did not endear him to the President and his supporters. Instead of sitting to reflect deeply on his principled positions, they went after him.

Of course, Bishop Mpundu’s principled position ultimately emerged victorious after the Lungu administration was voted out of office in the 2021 general elections. They largely lost over the many issues Bishop Mpundu and many Zambians were raising about the impunity of that administration.

For those who may have forgotten, Bishop Mpundu was the one who actually conducted the first mass at State House following the election of President Hichilema in 2021. However, not too long after that, Bishop Mpundu, in his same principled position, began to raise issues about some of the excesses he saw in President Hichilema and the manner he was going about handling national matters. He raised issues over what he noticed as the regionalism, regression in democracy and human rights, among many others under President Hichilema. He did not only end there, as he even wrote the United States of America (USA) government to consider sanctioning President Hichilema and several other officials in the UPND administration.

In one of the interviews, Bishop Mpundu actually denounced President Hichilema as a “one man dictator”, who only listened to himself. He talked about one engagement with the President which was aimed as a dialogue but turned into a lecture from the President. We do not know if there could have been some private engagements between Hichilema and Bishop Mpundu before his passing. However, what is known publicly is that he was disappointed with the President and he made that fact known.

But it will be a lot of injustice on Bishop Mpundu’s worthy service while on the Earth to just one or two examples. It’s safe to say that his worthy services are just too numerous to mention. And therefore, today, we join many others in celebrating his life, because people like him deserve to be celebrated. May the Memory of Archbishop Mpundu remain a blessing.