By Elias Munshya wa Munshya
This last week will be the nineteenth anniversary of President Chiluba’s declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation done on 29th December 1991, and the seventh anniversary of Roy Clarke’s “Mfuwe” article, written on January 1 2004. The controversy, interest and debate generated by these two events are still fresh in theological, academic, legal and journalistic circles many years after. Curiously, there is nothing that links the two events together more bizarrely than the court case involving the 2004 deportation order made against Roy Clarke. What the judges said about Christianity and Christian values in the Roy Clarke case is so relevant in giving us the glimpse into judicial attitudes to the Declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation. While there has not been any legal or constitutional challenge to the declaration itself, the case of “Attorney General v Clarke” exposes some inconsistencies within judicial reasoning over the Declaration. Consequently, in examining this relationship this article explores why in this case the Supreme Court may have gotten wrong the relevance of Christian values in Zambian society.
Roy Clarke in his weekly column of The Post, did a piece he entitled “Mfuwe” where he satirically characterised the Zambian cabinet as animals. Taking animal metaphors from the tourist enclave of Mfuwe, Clarke used expressions such as King Elephant Muwelewele in obvious reference to President Mwanawasa. He also used the Baboon metaphor to satirise then vice-president Nevers Mumba. This Mfuwe article greatly displeased the Mwanawasa government, and Clarke was ordered deported on January 3 2004 by Hon. Gen. Ronnie Shikapwashya the then Minister of Home Affairs. Major reasons for so deciding were that as a white man, Clarke deliberately used racist language. Additionally, it was claimed that what he did was contrary to Zambian cultural values.
Unsurprisingly, Roy Clarke appealed against the Hon. Minister’s decision. After granting him an injunction, the Hon. Justice Philip Musonda of the Lusaka High Court latter quashed the deportation order. In his ruling, Justice Musonda declared freedom of expression to be sacrosanct. He mentioned that even if Clarke’s piece was “irritating, offensive or shocking” it still fell within the confines of speech that must be protected by the Constitution of Zambia. Controversially, Justice Musonda added that deporting Roy Clarke would go against the Christian values espoused by Zambia a Christian nation. The preservation of the family is one such Christian value. Consequently, if Clarke were to be deported, his wife and children would be deprived of his presence thereby contradicting Christian values which Zambia embraces.
As can been gleaned from Justice Musonda’s other judicial opinions, arriving at this conclusion should have been natural for him. He is a fervent believer in press freedom and holds the doctrine of separation of powers very dearly. He is also a courageous judge. He at one time reversed the decision of an administrative tribunal presided over by judges, a court his senior. One of his university students remarked that he based the incorruptibility of the judicial office to that of the Lord Jesus Christ.
After Justice Musonda’s verdict restoring Roy Clarke’s permanent residence status, Zambia’s Attorney General appealed against this ruling. The Zambian government felt that Justice Musonda was wrong to allow Roy Clarke to stay. GRZ interceded with the Supreme Court to have another look at the case. The Supreme Court bench sitting with Zambia’s most senior Justices-Chief Justice Ernest Sakala, Deputy Chief Justice David Lewanika, and Justices Dennis Chirwa, Florence Mumba, Peter Chitengi, Sandson Silomba, and Christopher Mushabati- dismissed the government’s appeal. However, in dismissing the appeal and upholding Justice Musonda’s decision, the Supreme Court nevertheless fervently disagreed with almost all the reasons given by Justice Musonda. This article limits itself to the “Christian nation” and “Christian values” reasons. From Justice Musonda’s opinion, Christianity as espoused by Zambia’s status as a Christian nation provides some values that can be legally and constitutionally relied on. As such, he invoked the importance of those Christian values to Roy Clarke’s situation. Accordingly, if Roy Clarke were deported he would be deprived of family. This deprivation is unnecessary according to Justice Musonda, as it goes against Christian values in a Christian nation.
In disagreeing with Justice Musonda on the relevance of “Christian nation values”, the Supreme Court ruled that the Declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation lacked juridical value. Since it lacked juridical value, the Christian nation declaration or Christian values cannot be relied on constitutionally. The honourable justices of the Supreme Court even castigated Justice Musonda by stating, “We must say here that we disapprove of this kind of approach by a Judge.” It seems then that what the Supreme Court wanted to concentrate on with regard to Roy Clarke’s case was points of law, statutes, or indeed common law principles. The Supreme Court did not want to tolerate personal opinions or even the so called “Christian values.” Particularly, the thought that Justice Musonda may have regarded Christian values as a source of law was principally problematic for the Supremes.
However, what is confusing as the opinion continues is that the Supreme Court justices themselves, do exactly what they are condemning Justice Musonda for. They condemned Musonda for invoking Christian values and yet they too veer off from discussing only relevant statutes and case law to go on to invoke the relevance of Zambian cultural values. The Court stated: “We have no doubt that in every other country you cannot say and write things using words and expressions that are not in consonance with the cultural values and norms of the people of that country.” As such, while criticizing Musonda, the Supreme Court created an unnecessary dichotomy between “cultural values” and “Christian values.” With the latter having no juridical value, while the former does. Additionally, the court failed to consider the extent to which these very cultural values have been influenced by Christian values. While Musonda may have linked the two, the Supreme Court found it relevant to separate them. Essentially, then what it refers to as Zambian cultural values have juridical value while Christian nation values do not.
What the Supreme Court may have missed here is that Zambian cultural values are inextricably linked to Christian values. The Declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation did not necessarily create a new set of values for Zambia, but rather affirmed Zambian traditional cultural values which are mostly affirmative of Christianity. Justice Musonda should not have been reprimanded for his “Christian values” opinion. It was the Supreme Court that needed to see that Zambians adhere very dearly to Christian values—and the Christian nation declaration is just one way of showing that. Therefore, the claim that the Christian nation declaration and Christian values lack juridical value is quite worrying.
Very interesting article indeed. What next?
ok, thats what happened, so does the person who made the declaration exihibit chriatian values himself?
This is quite thought provoking. I believe that what the supreme court meant here is that while christianity has become part of our culture, our own traditional culture indentifies who we are. Christianity just augments those values. In other words, we as a people of Zambia can live and be clearly differentiated from others by our traditional cultural values and not the christian ones. We can still be who we are without christianity and not the other way round
Christianity is a religion without facts same with other religions like Muslims and Hinduism hence also with the LAWs. There O based on believe.Mankind has introduce another believe called LAWs. People tell stories in court and the judges believe, then they judge judges according to the believe using the religion of LAWs created to suit them.
Roy Clarke ws bullied and the government wanted him deported
partly because he was employyed by the Post but mostly in my honest opinion because he was white
I find it hard that as a country,. Zambia has some racisst leaders, yet this is swept under the cartpet as soon as someone talks about it
I have been praying to have Guy Scott lead zambia because of the connection and investments he would entice most part of the world to come and bring to zambia
We need to look ourselves in the mirror and embrace UK, if anything zambia wouldnt be going backwards if we had a caucasian to lead us, no tribalism the country would change dramatricall
Thanks
sense for once sis..
Just spent £1400 on shoes and socks, i need to stop.Happy new year every one! Goodbye 2010. It’s time to change your bad stories to be good stories!
goodbye 2010. you were a year chock-full of wild twists and turns making me feel as though i am truly on a path worth exploring. hello 2011
Looking forward to a Great 2011! Happy MMXI everybody!
thanks
Mushota…your 43 yr old white b/f has brain washed you…..am not sure if its because of his big old cock….
I still wonder why Zambia should maintain this FTJ Chiluba falacy, which declaration he made to try and blindfold the Zambian people whilst he stole with his minions.
What is important for the Zambian constitution are the rights to shelter, water, health, education, life, etc and the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be pleased.
Hey, there is still a difference. We dont want to be like muslims who have their culture based fully on the quoran. They memorise the quoran word for word in primary schools. They still chop off hands of thieves. They still stone to death. Even honour killling. ma ma ma ma NO. Atleast christians have picked the relevant values and made them into law.
# 9. I meant muslim nations. Especiaqlly in the middle east.
I usually like Elias Munshya wa Munshya’s articles as they are well written and articulated. However, in this article I agree with the Supreme Court ruling. Our Cultural values are part and parcel of our judicial system because that is what our village and local court systems are based. Christianity may have values that are similar to these but Christianity is not juridical in our legal system. The declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation is not in the constitution but in the Preamble to the Constitution. This case has been argued before in the US whether the preamble is law. It is not. Thus the Supremes were bang on the spot here. 7 heads are better than 1.
It has been a great year 2010. Happy new year to everybody!
So if the christian norms have no legal status what does the new constitution say to address this? Or the notion of a christian nation is just an empty slogan?
When Chiluba declared Zambia as a christian nation, a lot of people were happy about it but others said the declaration was done in bad faith. The later group includes the catholics. Senior Catholics in Zambia have been trying to take Zambia back to a circular nation because they believe Chiluba is not christian enough to declare Zambia a christian nation.
When Chiluba appointed Mwanawasa as his successor, the catholics felt their fight was even tougher because Mwanawasa was not catholic to help them bring zambia back to a circular nation. They called Mwanawasa every name (cabbage,ichipuba…..), this was out of disappointment. And then Sata and PF were born.
Knowing that Sata was a catholics who can help them with their mission, senior catholics have supported Sata from the time he fo
Knowing that Sata was a catholics who can help them with their mission, senior catholics have supported Sata from the time he formed PF. Some father has even left the pulpit just to ensure that Sata becomes president. Unfortunately time is running out for Sata and the catholics. The christian nation thing has already sunk into the minds of Zambians and no one will change that. Moreover Sata will never be president of Zambia. Mission impossible…. This is my perspective, what is yours.
Declaring Zambia as a Christian nation was okay in its own right, but my take is that Chiluba used this declaration to steal from you while you are kept blind by the declaration. Sad how some people can take advantage of noble issues to disadvantage others.
Mad – Life,
you really are trying hard to comment, but lack facts and understanding. You really are making some people to have a mad – life to try and comprehend where you are coming from and where you are headed.
Happy New Year everyone here!
#5 & 6.The Mafia would say, “Those who know don’t say, and those who say don’t know.” Why is it that people that are still wet behind the ears living outside of Zambia get so giddy and want to brag about how much they make? C’mon, grow up and quit playing with marbles. The disappointing thing is even after living in the U.K. you still have an inferiority complex with Caucasians. Are you sure Zambia needs a Caucasian leader? You want us to talk about problems in the Western world? I wouldn’t want Zambia to go down that path. The Western world is not emerging; it is in decline. I live in the U.S. which is King of the Western world. It is a nation in decline and not on the ascendancy. China is emerging and you’d better learn Mandarin. Let Africans be given a fair shot and not putting…
I can n ot see any reason why zambian could put Mr Musonad and Mr Sakala to see who will make a right judgement, over that poor speech made by Roy. Zambian is not a animal farm country, therefore, every speech should be clear and said according to human normals.
Our cultural values reflects in christian values therefore, every decision we make it should be influenced by these due cardinal values.
Christian nation is good no matter who ever declares it especially when he is headof state, some nations have lost direction and are in total confusion; lets guide our nation with christian principals, ofcourse not every one can be christian ;; christianity is most reasonable than some murderers religions, in some so called secular nations the devil has completely taken over in running such nations.. Zambians are blessed
Continued from above: The world used to laugh at China not too long ago. Their economy was refered to as a bamboo economy. How do you like them now? And they have done it without a Caucasian president ruling them. So why should you suggest Zambia needs a Caucasian president. Africa may be poor, but it holds the future for Christianity. Who objects to that statement in the Western world? Everyone in the Western world (and I’ve been here for a very long time) agrees that Africa is the spiritual powerhouse of Christianity. Isn’t that something very good for Africans to celebrate? Instead you want to be a Debby Downer over them. Africans will finally figure it out that they’re not inferior to anyone just as China figured it out.
I have read a number of articles by Elias Munshya & its amazing the extent to which this character would go to to proove he is learned and yet often gets caught pants down in intellectual snobbery grids riddled with pathetic contradictions. To write an article like this, and claim that Zambian cultural values are inextricably linked to Christian values, he must never have head of the legendary PK Chishala’s timeless ‘Pastor Polepole’. It is blindness to reality like this and cunning st.pidi.ty of taking things at face value that I find most nauseous. Any realistic Zambian will tell you it is our cultural values and not alien Christian ones that have juridical value. Just look at the character that made the declaration, how more psynister could a creature be?
Larry above well said. Firstly there will be more Africans going to heaven per capita than any other place on earth this generation. To the post above do you know that Israel’s people and their governing laws were authored by an African noble a black man, by the name of Jethro. So you see that is the reason our good cultural norms, the good ones that is mesh with Christian norms. The declaration of Zambia as a Christianity protect us from vices like bestiality and other nonsense some western g..ay Greek roman nations would want us to adopt.
Ubupuba Larry eleke ichinangwa iwe. The Chinese are not christians at all, they believe in their own buddha gods of money and fimo fimo and yet their is the fastest growing economy in the world and only second to the USA today, Now, how dare you think Africa should be the spiritual powerhouse of Christianity in order to develop, what manner of st.up.i.dity is this? Jomo Kenyatta must be turning in his grave that 50 years after he declared we shall never again ‘sleep’ only to wake up being held at gun point with our land stolen from us, Larry should suggest we sleep again in prayer the the gods and spirits of the devil colonizers? This is treason.
A country like drama zed even zimbbabwe is bettet, rite now coz of hard currency, not these bitches like mushota kanyo which cumpas did yu go to kashinda, am sure yu were ****ed enough until waluka, i stil wonder which skul yu went 2
Sorry no comment
So why did that 1diot Mmembe end the contract of the intellectual satirist? I loved the POST before Mmembe did the unbelievable, I suspect it is because Clarke did not spare Mmembe idol, Sata, remember he called him Cycle Mata (the 1diot with cicular thoughts and behaviour) and even when Mmembe decided to place himself in sata’s armpit Clarke remained objective leading to the unfortunate decision. Mmembe please grow up have some balls!
My humble (amble in bemba) request to Mr Clarke is, please sir consider starting a column with another newspaper or magazine, my suggestion would be Lusakalowdown those guys will allow you freedom to speak/express yourself freely. forgive that 1diot mmembe, he has sold his soul to Cycle Mata to revive his businesses,please Mr Clarke, I only read the POST because of you, i now only look at the headlines to have a laugh, i dont bother to read anymore.
This is personal to Mr Clarke, if it ever gets to you, you may not remember me but i approached you one day in 2004 at UTH carpark praising you for you satire, you asked a few questions about your then latest article. I thought you tried to assess if i understood it and that gave me a lot of insight about you, continue the good work, you are absolutely brilliant.
#24. Stop spewing venom and chill out. You’re so angry man, smoke is coming out your ears. I got your cage rattled real good, seems. Are you from some Eastern European nation and wanting to shoot at everything that moves? Europe owes it to Christianity, thanks to the Roman Empire. Christianity did not originate from Europe neither was it spread there by the gun. I’m happy America was founded by Christians and not moslems. Imagine what the world would be if the U.S. was run by the Taliban or Al quaida.By the way, China will never dominate the world. When all is said and done, Israel is the last economy standing.
Larry, i like your stand. You may agree that some of your views are rather philosophical and not necessarily backed by facts, but thats fine too. There are no economic reasons why China should never be able to dominate the world…i thought it does already. Did they not up their interest rates last week and all the world markets went reeling. I know why a small economy like Israel is rather very big in your mind.
#31. How can a nation not endowed with natural resources dominate the world’s economy? The stock market will go belly up every week Greece hiccups. the Chinese economy will grow but not to the point where it topples the U.S. economy. The country has no value for human life. More people are executed in China than any nation. Human rights are not respected. But it’s good for the 3rd world that China’s and India’s economies are growing and Africa stands to benefit immensely. But my point is, world powers and economies have come and gone: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Great Britain…The prophets of Israel all along prophesied that Israel would survive and dominate. There was no Israel from 70 AD. Then as the prophets said it’d happen Israel was reborn in 1948…
There’s not a single archeologist in the world today that takes the Bible lightly. It has been proven a very reliable source of information. But that’s a historical perspective. There’s no religious book in the world whose prophesies cover past, present and future events and has a record of those prophesies on the money. All of them will only talk of the end times but do not have a record of fulfilled predictions.I hope no nitwit brings up Nostrodamus. In the end, according to the Bible, it’s Israel winning, and most importantly, those that are born again. I like it here because I get to preach free of charge, that is if I can endure the insults.
Larry wayamba kufunta. Lindila first…….
Iwe Larry, you are mixing fact with fiction. Some things sound good but others a topsy turvy. Ndiyo yenze ma politics ya Nevers Mumba. Good preacher but bad politician.
Just wait for my LADY GAGA to finish celebrating. Azakuanka mutuma small words
We won’t go past heaven’s pearly gates on account of Zambia being a Christian nation, but rather on our individual deeds. As such, this Christian nation thing is a waste of time.
#15 Lya pansaka
The Romish Church dogma admits of only the Pontif as the only person who can ‘sanctify’ a country. It may be that the appointment of Cardinal Mazombwe is to prepare Zambia for Catholic leadership. What better chance than when there will be a Catholic President, a related Roman Archbishop and a Catholic Cardinal for a visit from the Papa to ‘sanctify’ Zambia! I suspect that we shall have a visit from Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger when Sata becomes President.
The Chief Justice is Catholic, the Proprietor of the widest read tabloid is Catholic, the present Vice President is Catholic! Remember that the primary allegiance of a Catholic confessor is to the ‘holy’ See. The question one may ask is, why would the RCC want to control a country? The answer is- read history of Europe from 330 AD to the 17th century!
Larry #33,34, If world powers have come and gone, why won’t the US ever go then? Strange that China will never be a world power simply because of their poor human rights record. Second question, why do you seem to attribute the inexplicable success to the physical state of Israel and not the representative one? I like your openess, clearly most of your interpretations of world economics are based on prophecy, a very subjective area unfortunately.
#39.I said above that the West is in decline and not on ascendence; that includes the U.S.But China will not dominate the world.You think what I say is subjective?The prophet Daniel prophesied in the days of Nebuchadnezer that there’d be 4 major world empires in this order:Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome.Is that subjective or objective information?Wasn’t the Bible right?The circumstances under which Babylon would fall were predicted in the Bible i.e. in a drunken stupor after a drunken binge.Now the Bible does not necessarily have to be a predictor of world events but of God’s program for this world.In the Bible China is not a world power.In fact there are multiple players in the end times.The coming of Jesus was predicted.He’s coming again and God has warned:surrender or perish…
#39.Cont.from above. The coming of Jesus was predicted. He’s coming again,and God has warned:surrender to Him now or face His wrath (2 Peter 3 verse 19 and John 5 verse 24). Again, Jesus was not Caucasian. He was a Middle Easterner and looked like a typical Iraqi looks today (black hair, brown skin, dark brown eyes and less than 6 feet tall). It’s amazing how people lie about Jesus. Christianity did not originate from Europe; get over it. By the way, there’s no such thing as a christian nation. The only christian nation the Bible talks about is the church.But a nation that recognizes God is better off than one that opposes Him constitutionally or otherwise. Love you #39. Read the Bible on your own.
Larry
Zambia needs that kind of thoughtful analyis. Forget the comments from pea brained individuals.
Agree or not you raise points that merit logical discussion. Unfortunately the sensible ones are the minority in Zambia but dont give up.
#42. Thanks. There are many weird bloggers on this site.I remember several years ago being tormented every week by a certain Mercutio in the Zambian Post wishing someone could challenge him. I could have challenged him but I felt inadequate. The Bible say, “They that forsake the law praise the wicked; but such as keep the law contend with them.”Proverbs 28:4. The best part about the truth is you don’t have to spin or flavor it. I thought, honestly by now everybody knew that Christianity did not originate from Europe. How do you explain such illiteracy or ignorance in the 21st. century? It’s mind boggling and these guys think they’re smart with such beliefs. The most prosperous lands today are those that were once Christian. Everyone is learning from them. Inventions have come from…
What did Soviet Russia accomplish by denying the existence of God? They never invented anything significant and spent all their time stealing technology from the U.S. China is also busy pirating American technology. Christianity is the light of the world and every communist, Moslem, atheist etc. knows that.
#14 you make a point
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