Yesterday (17th October), a close acquaintance of mine was telling me that it was great hypocrisy for President Lungu to have instituted a National Day of Prayer when his actions, in general, reflect nothing of the fear of God and love for fellow man.
My immediate response was to agree with her seeing that there has been general disaffection in the country in view of some of the actions (or lack of action) by the president. A perpetual trampling of the citizens’ rights to assemble, blocking of opposition views in public media, unjustified arrest and detention of those with opposing views are but a small list of the many things that justifiably make people to consider our president a wrong person to talk about prayer and reconciliation.
On second thoughts, I told myself and shared with my friend that I begged to differ with her opposition to October 18. And I have been emboldened to even share this piece in writing when I read an article indicating that the president is apologizing for declaring October 18 as public holiday dedicated to seeking God’s face.
It is said in the article that the president feels that people have misunderstood his good intentions. That this Day should not be about him and all his short comings but about the nation coming together to seek God. I really want what to share the pain that the president is having in that it is very clear that the commemoration of this day cannot be separated from him and his character (what he has done and what he hasn’t done).
No one can blame those who are complaining because if anything, Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, and not his predecessors declared this day to be a public holiday. Unfortunately, there has been no correlation between the pronouncements related to the day and the president and his government’s manner of handling national issues. People for instance are still grappling to understand the justification of the brutal way in which Mr. Hichilema was arrested on tramped up treason charges and detained for ‘forever’ just to have the case dropped in ‘mid-air’. It is understandable therefore that citizens will have this apathy to this Day if Mr. Lungu and his government do not back up words of love and reconciliation with tangible actions of tolerance and a desire to embrace those with opposing views
Once upon a time, when Jehoshaphat was king over Judah, foreign nations allied themselves to destroy the nation of Israel. When the king realised that his nation was too small to fight the invading forces, he rallied the citizens to seek God’s face. He personally led them in seeking God though he was a politician like our president (albeit a monarch). People willingly came out to pray as they agreed with the cause (the nation was under threat) and they saw the sincerity of their leader to obtain divine intervention to what was, an otherwise, insurmountable challenge. Because of their leader’s sincerity together with the unity of the nation, God delivered his people. This story is in 2 Chronicles 15.
There is a lesson to learn both by the president and ourselves as citizens of this great nation. The president needs to do serious introspection regarding what was truly the motivation of his actions. Did somebody advise him that if he did this the Zambians would love him since they generally have the fear of God? Is it any wonder then that since it was not from his heart, his actions are so removed from what is expected of him that the nation cannot reconcile the two? The nation will agree with him if appears to take action when they complain about the corruption of his cabinet ministers, when they complain about police brutality, when they ask for answers to his, almost, instant affluence, among the many concerns.
I may not join in public prayer, but as a Christian and a citizen I will quietly pray to thank God for having a National Day dedicated to His glory regardless (as the president has said) of the character of the person behind it. I therefore end by saying Mr. President, please do not apologize for October 18.
By Musopelo Kambilo
Does Lungu really believe that the economy has to be prayed for? You actually need to know how to manage it. The other thing is DO NOT STEAL from the same economy that you are trying to FIX!
Dont apologise???
DON’T WORRY YOUR PRETTY HEAD. IT IS SEALED BOTH ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN
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No cause to apologize. You did it for Christians, You did if for Mother Zambia. Your reward awaits you in heaven. Only Shetanists will worry.
Only dumb assses will beat their chests in anger for this. Zambia is happy. We are secure with the declaration of the day.
Haters wanna hate.
#PreserveZambia.
totally agree with your post…Lungu is a master manipulator he knows that everyone is talking about the corruption and the thieving going on in the country…this is why he decided to call for the National prayer day.but I can assure you that the only people that went for fake prayer day…belongs to the PF..Lungu has failed to Rule the country and my eyes he has failed as a leader he fooled everyone with the 2015 prayers people are now realizing that. This guy is a phony and everything that comes out of his mouth is all fake news
Please people wake up!
Prayer is nothing but words blown in the air. It cannot heal a nation. You can achieve more with medicines in the hospitals and well-paid professionals therein.
I challenge any one of you, politician or not. Let’s take hospitals. I take Ndola Hospital and you take UTH. Give me all the money you are wasting on prayers and houses of worship so I can stock and staff it appropriately. And you camp in front of UTH for 3 months.
Let’s compare the results before and after.
I have difficulties in understanding your intention of writing this article. You have ended up raising more questions than answers to your topic. Try to be specific on what you want to communicate next time.
IWE KA LUCY, The intention of writing this article is to open the minds of the people about the possible deceitfulness of Edgar and his cronies. CK has told us how this Chagwa guy operates: he steals them tells the people that we go and pray. SO THIS ARTICLE IS REMINDING ZAMBIANS WHO FORGET EVEN AFTER A FEW DAYS!
These are the end of days.
Fake prophets everywhere. Fake leaders that hold the bible in one hand, while the other hand is stealing. Corruption is rife. When we complain, we get jailed. Our leaders have abandoned us, they want to become rich like they will take that wealth to their graves.
Learn from the past please. Chiluba stole a lot, and yet he did not live long enough to enjoy that dirty money. Most of that money is still in foreign banks. Who is benefitting from it?
No matter how many malls you build, or how many dodgy roads you construct, if you are not working for the people, history will not be kind to you.
Just remember that Zambia is not yours alone.
God bless our beautiful country, and get rid of the rotten apples that are amongst us
@Indigo Tyrol,,,,
ka Chiluba used to boast ati, “I stand on a very hard rock and whoever will fight me will be crushed.” Guess what? he got crushed! I only wish there was a way the dead can be shown that they are actually dead. but then that would mean they are not dead. smh
What should happen is: We all close our eyes to pray including Edgar. When Edgar opens his eyes all of us including the dignitaries should disappear to leave him alone.
When everyone understands the gravity of what hh did in Mongu, it would clear the atmosphere of this hate and malice that fills this country. When Julius Malema went to Botswana and attacked the sovereignty of that country and its leader, not only did Zuma reprimand him, South Africans collectively condemned his behaviour!! It’s sad that known circles in our country want to call hh’s behaviour as “trumped up” or “traffic offence”. When everyone calls a wrong a wrong, that will save us a lot of time. When we want to twist truths to suit our desires, this is the political tension we see in our nation. This is why hh refuses to concede the truth of August 2016, because that keeps his supporters like this author interested in him. Even in the face of reality, 54 mps against 160 mps, he…
…still refuses to accept. If he were to concede, what will his supporters fight for??? From the onset, everything ECL has done is bad in these circles. Even when statistics are pointing to better things, like in the health sector for example, these circles will always report on the slight grim negatives. So why should I expect anything good today??? Prayer is a personal choice. If you choose to pray or not, only you shall be answerable to God, not you with hh or ECL!! Corruption, is this corruption convictable?? Or is it another personal vendetta and attacks on their perceived foes?? Until officials get arrested and REAL evidence is presented to courts, this corruption crusade is nothing but a ploy to disable other Zambians and hope the population revolts against its leaders. EXTREMELY…
…S.T.U.P1D ARTICLE!!!
What has HH to do with day of prayers and this article?
Have you read it first?? Who was at a press conference announcing they wont attend prayers???
@ZC,,, consult your friend Senior Citizen on matters of statecraft. Leadership is measured at the margins. It does not matter what good he has done in the past. When he does one stup*d thing, we condemn. That is how the court of public opinion works. We have not the time, nor the patience to argue with somebody who has the state resources to deliver what HE promised to deliver, but exhibiting bucipantepante. We did not seek him, he sought us, remember? Not as a spiritual leader either!
The national day of prayer, fasting and reconciliation has been misunderstood by many zambian. It’s not about ECL vs HH and his minions but about all zambians reconciling with whoever you may have wronged. Chilean was not clean but his declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation has still been maintained up to today. ECL may have his own issues with HH, CK and citizens but what about you vs others? Are you hollier than ECL that you don’t need to reconcile with those you might have wronged. Please look at it from that angle and let’s hear your argument.
True true. It’s all about you and me reconciling for the betterment of us all. It begins with an individual. Let us embrace one another.
It is not the duty of a politician to tell me how to handle my relationship with my fellow Zambians. I hate it when politicians exhibit paternalistic tendencies.
When a bee sits on your scrotum, do you hit or let it bite you? I’m referring to assertions that Lungu is trampling on people’s rights. ..should he let criminals Scott free or deal with them?
What criminals they ones he is stealing from, go see those fire engines and tell us what you think about them. Others are buying the state of the art machines and we are buying overpriced wheel barrows
Criminals like your president wamuyaya who receives any criminal from PF.
Under Johnathan’s watch our debt has increased and so has his net worth. Corruption has become endemic and the rule of law is not respected. Prayer can not fix these things. If Jonathan has truelly repented let him return all the wealth that he and his minions have corruptly gotten. And he should start be acknowledging that he has failed to provide leadership to his thieving cabinet. Where is Mutati? He is busy moving with his begging bowl. He was failed to implement an austerity plan for Jonathan. Let’s not think we can be holy by appearing to be right living only on the 18th of October.
The pentecostals must bear the blame for misleading our country into getting donations to build mansions first and then mega churches…even the guy writing this article must look straight in his eyes and afirm he is just doing it for recognition….it’s sad. Zambia today has more people who shan going to church because…people like you scared of hunger and refusing to do the hard work that others strice on ve made Christianity a scapegoat coz they understand God won’t ran in anything right now…
God bless you Mr. President!
There is an animal in the Bible that spoke! Its rider was going to curse the blessed and chosen of the Lord! Balaam was riding that animal! Do you know it? Sometimes, by the miracle of God an animal can talk! That animal was a donkey!
Where is this power of god when people are drinking doom and eating grass in search of his face? It appears to me the power of god is only a perception and not real.
I am over 50 and have achieved all I set out to achieve without saying a prayer. There’s a control experiment for you if you needed one.
Its a great and noble idea to have a national prayer day but I would suggest it be held every third Sunday of October than having it on the 18th. It disrupts the economical standing of people.
Some people are very dull. Prayer has got nothing to do with EL and HH. Why do we always want to include these two jokers in almost everything? let us differentiate the two. Let us not promote hatred in this country By politicizing almost everything. Yaba. Social media has now gone to the dogs.
Kambilo, you’re the people who are encouraging Lungu and his cadres to continue being corrupt and violet; God does not not hear hypocritical prayers; Zambia is not a Christian nation; it is worse in corruption and violence than countries which don’t call themselves Christian nation; Lungu and his cadres need to stop corruption and violence before going to pray;
Jesus said be the first one to throw a stone if you are perfect yourself and no one did. I wonder how today some characters think they are cleaner than Kaunda’s handkerchief when what ever they write either starts or ends with an insult directed at one person always. Are they saying their sponsor is cleaner than Yesu? This land belongs to God but their leader was the first to flatten people’s homes and claim he owned the land. Talk about this and confirm that the land belongs to this leader and not God.
What reward? Corruption and giving opium (religion) to the masses?
This is all a grand corrupt attempt to hoodwink, weak poor souls who believe everything on christianity?
while others are working hard….some are lazy holding the bible talking about themselves and not God or saving souls…can’t understand
Which Church denomination does His Excellency the humble leader ECL belong to? And is he even baptised? I need to know so that I avoid following a “blind man”….not that I can follow some an unrepentant solicitor who is on record to have stolen money from a widow and orphans!
It is in the Good Book on how the people of Israel got hoodwinked by King Ahab and his wife Jezebel and their prophets of Baal. My fellow Zambians muli bantu bandi bonse cejeleni noyu kateka tukwete!
Kwena mwebena Zambia how did you end up with this Riff Ruff of a president!!
i use to donate the uth and ndola hospital with 2 countiners of medcine free every year but when lungu came i was deported leaving all my properties behind some one wanted to get them but they failed now i m still fighting my case i want to kno y i was deportes no reson given want to take my case to un human right court of appel
ya v kno this case it is dg who is invoiled taking money from the indians and grabing the properties of the deportees