PRESIDENT Lungu and the first family are tomorrow expected to be among thousands of Zambians who will be fasting and praying at Lusaka’s Showgrounds.
And Bread of Life International overseer Bishop Joe Imakando has joined members of the clergy among other stakeholders in supporting and encouraging Zambians to turn up for the national day of prayers tomorrow.
Secretary to the Cabinet Roland Msiska said President Lungu is expected at the Showground’s main arena from 13:00 hours to the break of the fast at 18:00 hours.
Dr Msiska said in a statement in Lusaka yesterday that members of the public are invited to join President Lungu and members of the clergy during the last part of the prayers and fasting.
He said this will be after spending the first part of their praying and fasting in their respective places of worship and churches, where members of the public are encouraged to spend time praying and fasting in the morning.
“Government also wishes to reiterate that all bars, pubs and public places, including restaurants and fast-food outlets, shall remain closed from 06:00 hours to 18:00 hours to enable members of the public to dedicate their time in fervent prayer and fasting,” Dr Msiska said.
President Lungu declared tomorrow, October 18, 2015 a day of repentance, fasting and prayer.
This is in response to numerous requests by ordinary citizens and clergy in view of the challenges facing the country.
And Bishop Joe Imakando, the Bread of Life International overseer, has joined members of the clergy among other stakeholders in supporting and encouraging Zambians to turn up for the national day of prayers tomorrow.
Bishop Imakando urged Zambians to pray citing the power of prayer in relation to incidents in the United Kingdom when children of God sought their Creator in difficult times.
He said Zambia is experiencing challenges such as power load shedding, which has changed individual lives and impacted on the economy negatively and adversely affected production and resulted in some job losses.
He said his church has scheduled prayers at the Blessing Centre in Lusaka’s Matero area from 15:00 to 18:00 hours tomorrow.
And Bus and Taxi Owners Association of Zambia (BTOAZ) said the call for national prayers by President Lungu is a noble cause that must be commended.
BTOAZ Lusaka Province chairperson John Banda said the nation needs God’s intervention to protect the Presidency in view of the deaths of two sitting Presidents.
True Fasting.1“Cry out loudly, don’t hold back!Raise your voice like a trumpet.Tell My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.2They seek Me day after day and delight to know My ways,
like a nation that does what is right and does not abandon the justice of their God.They ask Me for righteous judgments;they delight in the nearness of God.”3“Why have we fasted, but You have not seen?
We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed! ”“Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,
and oppress all your workers.4You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist.
You cannot fast as you do today,hoping to make your voice heard on high.
FASTING too? How can Edgar fast, he is diabetic and all those acanetia etc. He will collapse again.
5Will the fast I choose be like this:A day for a person to deny himself,to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6Isn’t the fast I choose:To break the chains of wickedness,to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,and to tear off every yoke?7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,to clothe the naked when you see him,and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?8Then your light will appear like the dawn,and your recovery will come quickly.
Your righteousness will go before you,and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.
9At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer;when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you get rid of the yoke among you,the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,10and if you offer yourself to the hungry,and satisfy the afflicted one,then your light will shine in the darkness,and your night will be like noonday.11The Lord will always lead you,satisfy you in a parched land,and strengthen your bones.
You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters never run dry.12Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins;you will restore the foundations laid long ago;you will be called the repairer of broken walls,the restorer of streets where people live.
Bloomberg Business. God save the kwacha.That’s what Zambian President Edgar Lungu wants his people to pray for on a national day of devotion and fasting on Sunday to reverse a decline in the world’s worst currency and fix a litany of problems from plunging copper prices to electricity shortages.All bars, nightclubs and entertainment venues have been instructed by the government to shut on the day, while the Football Association of Zambia has canceled domestic games. Church leaders are rallying their members to heed the president’s call in a nation where more than 80 percent of the 15 million population are Christian.
“These days are like the last days,” Gordon Chanda, a driver for a law firm, said as he sipped a Mosi beer at Sylvia’s Comfort bar, taking cover from a heat wave that hit the capital, Lusaka, this week. “We need more prayers.”Lungu, 58, is seeking divine intervention to help an economy in crisis as government efforts fail to halt the kwacha’s 45 percent slump against the dollar this year, the most of 155 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. Zambia’s woes began with the slide in copper prices last year and has worsened in 2015 as falling water levels at hydropower plants triggered the most severe electricity shortage on record, hobbling businesses.
“Anxiety and distress prevail throughout the land,” Lungu said last month when he proclaimed the day of prayer and fasting. “Indeed, hope seems to have deserted the minds of the people. It is almost as if the wise counsel of the learned among us are not a match to the crisis before us.”Job Cuts. The kwacha fell 0.3 percent to 11.715 against the dollar as of 1:10 p.m. in Lusaka on Friday. Yields on the Eurobond due 2027 have climbed 236 basis points to 11.73 percent since it was sold in July.Copper prices have dropped more than 20 percent in the past year, prompting companies such as Glencore Plc to consider shutting mines and fire thousands of workers.
Zambia is Africa’s second-largest producer of the metal, which accounts for 70 percent of export income. The slump in the industry will curb economic growth to a 17-year low of 3.4 percent in 2015, according to estimates from Barclays Plc.Zambians have been forced to endure power cuts of as long as 14 hours a day in Lusaka as drought caused water levels to drop at Lake Kariba hydropower plants, which supply the nation with almost half of its electricity. Dry weather has also caused a 22 percent slump in production this year of corn, the staple food, boosting inflation.Bishop Joe Imakando of the Bread of Life International Church, housed in an opulent building across the road from one of Lusaka’s biggest townships, urged Zambians to pray for an improvement, referring to a call by King…
King George VI of Britain in 1940 for a national day of prayer during World War II.“The depreciation of the kwacha against the dollar has resulted in prices escalating by 30 percent to 100 percent,” Imakando said in a statement on the church’s website. “Efforts by government to reverse the situation have not yielded any fruit. The impending increase on fuel will cause yet another price escalation, which will further complicate matters. What we need is divine intervention!”Fighting accusations of mismanagement of the power and economic crises, Lungu may be seeking a way to deflect criticism.
Since taking office in January following the death of his predecessor Michael Sata, Zambia has been beset by policy uncertainty and a weakening in spending controls that’s led to ballooning debt. The…
The government has steadily raised its target for the budget deficit this year from 4.6 percent of gross domestic product to 6.9 percent.
While Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda pledged in his budget speech on Oct. 9 to bring the deficit down to 3.8 percent of GDP in 2016, market analysts and credit-rating companies such as Fitch Ratings Ltd. have raised doubts, since spending is projected to soar 14 percent.“No matter how many prayers you make it doesn’t change the fact that you have a fiscal deficit and you’re not doing anything to reduce that fiscal deficit,” Trevor Simumba, managing director at Sub-Saharan Consulting Group Zambia, a business advisory firm, said by phone from Lusaka. Bloomberg Business World’s Worst Currency Prompts Call for Divine Intervention
Sata used the poor to get to state house by promising them more money in their pockets and now Lungu wants to use the church and Christians to remain in power.
Wake up true Christians and see this deception. You will know them by their fruits, has Lungu and his government showing you those fruits ?
This is a confused GRZ, gull of contradictions. The VP said the other day in parliament that entertainment places are not forced to close, while this so called Dr musiska says they must close. Zambia has Dr’s like this dull one, we are in trouble. Who will pay the affected pipo for loss of income??
Instead of encouraging Zambians to minimize on drinking, you find it very prudent to just criticize and insult. What income – you mean from prostitution?
This is not NEWS, how else would his excellence fail to attend an event he DECREED?
Zambians wake up! Late M.C. Sata used the poor to get to state house by promising them more money in their pockets. It worked as pipo were in poverty. This trick can not work again as poverty levels have up. So what the next trick use use the church and Christians to remain in power.
Wake up true Christians and see this deception. You will know them by their fruits, has Lungu and his government showing you those fruits ? Has ECL fired the bunch of crooks at State house. Can he tell us how the P.S at State house is build 50 Luxury flats in New Kasama valued at over K50 Billion. Can he tell us how the kaizer is still his advisor. this is fool and taking the people for granted.
Is it within the law that we can be forced to close businesses other than on national in the case of national mourning?. if not, my fellow bar owners, lets take grz to court.
Whats the main purpose for this prayer and fasting?
So god can halt the kwachas decline.
Is it within the law that we can be forced to close businesses other than in the case of national mourning?. if not, my fellow bar owners, lets take grz to court.
Comment:My friend who ever rough at what Zambians has done are not Christian. Never be wared about what people say about you but be wared of what God the lord say about you. As zambian we are not even wared over what other countries are going to say on prayers and fasting,we believe in the lord God of mercy and has his reason for this to happen in this manner. God bless Zambia.
Yachoka news pa vyalo ati Zambians are praying for their country’s economic woes! Ba tiseka maningi ba mene aba bazungu bana bweresa va chi kristu!
But even America does that – nibandani bamusekani?
Hahaha. Kenya has been holding national prayer breakfasts and anti-icc prayers also. Are we Africans stupid or led by stupid guys?