Political instability worries CCZ

The Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ)
has expressed concern over the political instability,
misunderstandings and reported violence in some political parties in
the country.

The CCZ leaders, who held a meeting in Lusaka today, said they were
disturbed and worried with the infighting in the Patriotic Front (PF),
the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and the United National
Independence Party (UNIP) over who should represent their parties in
the January 20, 2015 presidential elections.

They noted that these internal political differences had the potential
to cause instability in the country if left unchecked.

They stated that the situation was affecting all Zambians and would be
investors, adding that it was creating an unhealthy transition process
towards electing a new president for the country.

The church leaders observed that the behaviour of some political
leaders does not give people confidence that they qualify to be
national leaders.

They further said the confusion should have been amicably resolved
through observing their party constitutions that letting the conflicts
intensify and escalating to dangerous proportions.

They said this in a statement made available to ZANIS in Lusaka today.

The church leaders added that the PF, as the party in power, has great
responsibility to ensure that there was peace and security in the
nation through embracing the principle of unity by putting individual
differences aside and concentrating on their mandate to lead the
country via a transition process to the election day.

They said the church was ready to play the role of a mediator when
called upon by any political party to resolve their differences adding
that they will continue to pray for peace to prevail amongst all
political players for the country to move forward.

And the CCZ church leaders said the church was committed to ensuring
that the process of ushering in the country’s new leader was done in
accordance with the laws that govern the country as a democratic
state.

They said this was the reason why the three church mother bodies and
other faith based organisations which include CCZ, the Evangelical
Fellowship of Zambia in Zambia (EFZ), the Zambia Episcopal Conference
(ZEC), Caritas Zambia and Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection
(JCTR) have formed a coalition called the Christian Churches
Monitoring Group (CCMG) to ensure transparency, accountability and
credibility during the election process.

The coalition aims at monitoring the forthcoming presidential
by-elections and the entire electoral process leading to the elections
whilst focusing mainly on the management of the elections results.

The church leaders further said the coalition will come up with a
parallel vote tabulation (PVT) exercise to be used as a tool for
monitoring the intercity of the results during and after the counting
of votes with the participation of well-trained election monitors.

They stated that these efforts can only bear fruit in an environment
that is peaceful.