Vice President Inonge Wina has assured the Church on the Copperbelt of government support following the negative effects of the COVID – 19.
Mrs Wina noted that the church was among the worst affected by the pandemic.
Speaking when she met members of the Kitwe Pastors Fellowship in Kitwe today, the Vice President said the church will be helped through interventions like the Covid-19 emergency relief funds for projects such as completion of construction of their churches and also provision of relief food for the vulnerable members among others.
And Mrs Wina told the clergy that government is still discussing the issue of suspension of church gatherings in schools which the members of the clergy presented to the Vice President.
Mrs Wina said it would be difficult for schools to open their doors to the public due to the current health restrictions.
“The suspension of churches meetings in schools is still under discussion between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education to find a way of helping you,” Mrs. Wina told the clergy.
She further urged church leaders to engage councils for church plots each time the local authorities are giving out land so that they can have permanent places of worship.
Earlier, Kitwe Pastors Fellowship Chairperson Bishop Raddy Lewila thanked government through the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) for the support rendered to them in the wake of the Covid- 19 pandemic.
Bishop Lewila also thanked government for the empowerment funds aimed at helping churches complete the structures stating that over 500 churches have so far applied for the funds.
And Bishop Lewila has assured the Vice President that the church in Kitwe was in support of the Patriotic Front led government development agenda which has resulted into massive infrastructure development which he said will stabilize the country for many years to come.
He also called for prudent use of the money being raised through the tollgates, an initiative he said was an excellent money spinner for government.
He further called on government to make a deliberate policy that will ensure that business contracts in the mines are given to indigenous Zambians as a way of ensuring empowerment of locals and equal distribution of resources.
And Copperbelt Minister Japhen Mwakalombe said the Church on the Copperbelt has been supportive to government.
“We have consulted and engaged the church on several issues,” Mr Mwakalombe said.
The Vice President is on a three day working visit on the Copperbelt where she is tomorrow scheduled to commission the handing over of pieces of land to the Kitwe flood victims and members of the Luyando Community whose houses were demolished by Mopani Copper Mines in Mindolo North recently.
The Vice president is also expected to hold meetings with various stakeholders later in the afternoon.
It is vital for community cohesion.
I have bad hangover. Dom perignon ikali
???????????the church my foot
Unfortunately, money goes missing even in churches. Where to Zambia?
Do churches need this??????????????? Help SME who are youths. there’s nothing for them tangible done by govt. All our money on Sunday goes to the same churches and you want to give them more? Aikona wena!
Reminds of FTJ’s slush fund A.K.A Presidential Fund etc which was used to the max to buy as many entities and as many individuals as possible to back the Third Term BUT ALL IN FUTILITY!
This is where it all goes wrong. The little available resources ( probably from borrowings) ought to be channelled into productive sectors of the economy. But here we are seeing appeasements in the guise of not leaving anyone behind
I don’t know why the church leaders allow themselves to be used this way.
They have all forgotten too soon the mess with FTJ. That money is hot. Leave it alone.
This is the last time we should have this type of politics where people think they can mock God.
The only support this government can give the Church is to donate masks and soap to them. Items which have been donated to us by the West.
Meanwhile, the Kwacha is tumbling like a certain drunkard leader. And that leader is blaming covid for this. And the privitisation process.
Anyway, vote wisely so you start paying off the 20 Billion USD debt. If you vote the same, this debt will be 100 Billion USD at next elections.
The choice is yours.
ZAMBIANS ARE BEING LEAD LIKE KIDS, SURELY GOVT CAN’T SEE THE SUFFERING FRONTLINE STAFF – NURSES, DOCTORS, POLICE, …
JESUS WHEN ARE YOU COMING?
Stuff them with CASH and they will keep QUIET, by the time they open their eyes it will be Zimbabwe No 2.
What desperate govts do?
El Salvador’s jailed gang members will see “not one ray of sunshine”, said the country’s prisons director, Orisis Luna Meza, in April.
He was describing the latest phase in the government’s hard-line security policy, the “Plan for Territorial Control”, which imposed stricter, more inhumane conditions in the country’s maximum-security prisons.
Natural light would be shut out from the inmates’ cells, family visits were banned and prisoners from two rival gangs – the MS-13 and Barrio 18 – would be housed together, mortal enemies living cheek-by-jowl in the heavily overcrowded cells.
Images of hundreds of half-naked, shaven-headed prisoners shackled together in the prison yards amid a worsening coronavirus outbreak sparked outrage among international…
Which sector will not ever be bribed
What church prays from a school? Those are the things Kagame did away with. We need a lot of sanity in every area. I remember Lungu insulting the Main churches because they challenged him now it’s time to give form five boys to build halls they will call churches and start teaching people about planting the seed. The work of religion is well defined “instill faith, rebuke, encourage, reconcile, forthtelling”.
If our preaching can’t help a person to think then such is not a church.
Support local n drink chibuku not ifyo fya na colonisers na na diasporans.
I didn’t see this in the budget. Is it part of the K10 billion which BOZ was supposed to print but Kalyalya only printed K1 billion and then got fired?
Is it legal to give tax money to Churches which don’t pay tax?
Why should Churches become a burden to the tax payers?
Where do they take offering and Tithe money? It’s just that PF is a weak party desperate for votes. All churches must be banned from using school premises for their activities. The use of school facilities increases wear and tear on school infrastructure. Churches don’t even share offering money towards maintenance of furniture and Infrastructure. Build your own churches. Don’t be lazy and Selfish!
The elections are so near that the PF making a move to bribe Churches
Politics