London (CNN) Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England, has said the church should reconsider its portrayal of Jesus as a White man.

Speaking to the BBC Today Programme, Welby was asked whether the way the western church “portrays Jesus” needed to be “thought about again” and “re-imagined” in light of recent Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd.

“Yes, of course it does,” he said, adding that Jesus was portrayed differently in countries around the world. He was regularly in touch with Anglican Church leaders from around the world, he said, who did not portray Jesus as White.

“You go into their churches and you don’t see a White Jesus — you see a Black Jesus, or Chinese Jesus, or a Middle Eastern Jesus — which is of course the most accurate.

“You see a Fijian Jesus — you see Jesus portrayed in as many ways as there are cultures, languages and understandings.”
Welby added that the representations of Jesus were not, however, “who we worship” but rather served as a “reminder of the universality of the God who became fully human.”

Addressing calls for monuments with links to the UK’s imperialist history and slave trade to be removed, he said statues in Canterbury Cathedral would be put under review.

“We’re going to be looking very carefully, and putting them in context and seeing if they all should be there,” he said.

“The question [about whether they should all be there] arises, of course it does, and we’ve seen that all over the world.”

The movement to take down and deface controversial statues has gained traction in the UK, as well as Europe and the US but has divided public opinion — with critics slamming it as “mob rule” while others applaud it as a way of addressing “systematic racism.”

Source:CNN

UPND Deputy Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa has demanded for an explanation on why government has abstained to release the Financial Intelligence Centre Report which every year is released in May.

Mr Mweetwa suspects that the delay in releasing the FIC report is the creation of the ruling PF that the document can be tampered with.

He said the PF is dam scared with the FIC reports because it not only tells all the ills of top government offices but also names and shames corrupt officials.

He warned that the PF should not be tempted to alter the function of FIC as doing so is tantamount to violating the constitution from which it was born.

He demanded that the government should with immediate release the FIC report for 2019 failure to which the UPND will be force to speculate that the government is trying to doctor.

Lusaka Mayor His Worship Miles Sampa, last night swung into action with his team and closed various bars masquerading as restaurants and bars that have opened illegally.

Those affected included Granddaddy Pub&Grill in Salama Park, and Chicago Reloaded Restaurant at East Park Mall.

Last week, in his COVID-19 address, President Edgar Lungu wondered how bars were opened against government directives and despite the risk of coronavirus infections.

“It has come to my attention that some bar and night club business owners have resumed operations despite government’s directive to remain closed. This cavalier attitude by some businessmen and women should not be condoned,” the Mayor said

Malawi’s electoral commission has declared opposition alliance leader Lazarus Chakwera the winner of the country’s presidential election rerun.

The announcement late on Saturday came four days after Malawians returned to the polls almost five months after the constitutional court annulled the results of a May 2019 vote over irregularities.

Chakwera, 65, secured the required majority, with 58.57 percent of Tuesday’s vote, the electoral commission said, beating the incumbent Peter Mutharika. Chakwera won election to a five-year term as president of the nation of 18 million people.

“My victory is a win for democracy and justice. My heart is bubbling with joy,” Chakwera said after his win, which sparked wild late-night celebrations on the streets of the capital Lilongwe, his stronghold.

In power since 2014, Mutharika was previously declared the winner of last year’s vote with 38.57 percent, ahead of Chakwera who got 35.41 percent and former Vice President Saulos Chillima, with 20.24 percent.

But Chakwera and now-running mate Chillima rejected the results of that election and petitioned the court to nullify the outcome and order a rerun.

February 3’s overturned result also forced a change in the electoral system, swapping a “first-past-the-post” system for a system in which the winner has to receive more than 50 percent of the vote.

Mutharika, 79, earlier on Saturday said there had been voting irregularities including violence and intimidation against his party’s election monitors, but the complaint was dismissed by the electoral commission. The opposition has denied the allegations.

Mr Mutharika said that while he found the election “unacceptable”, it was his “sincere hope that we should take this country forward instead of backwards”.

There were no independent reports of irregularities, and no international observer missions this time because of COVID-19. Local observers have said the poll was free and fair.

The opposition leader, a former cleric, heads up the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Born in Lilongwe to a subsistence farmer, the philosophy and theology graduate has pledged to raise the national minimum wage, among other reforms.

Mr Studied theology in Malawi, South Africa, and the USA. He a Pastor and lecturer, and worked at the Assemblies of God School of Theolog. He also authored several books on religion including Reach the Nations. He ran for president in 2014 and came second.