By Rev GABRIEL KAMBOLE –
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu’s call on the church to participate in the politics of our nation as a partner to help his administration govern and to be a source of sound counsel in helping politicians strive to be Christ like is welcome.
As the President said this at the installation ceremony of Lusaka catholic Archbishop, Archbishop Reverend Alick Banda and at the United Church of Zambia trinity congregation’s fundraising service, the church should participate in politics.
It is obvious and apparent that our politics is in need of new life and the life we are talking about is not forming more political parties, fielding more presidential and parliamentary candidates contesting or making scandalous speeches.
All these won’t bring the right changes the country needs, since what we need is a paradigm shift which when implemented will show us what is relevant to our national.
As things stand, our politics has assumed a character of desperation amongst the political players and as the adage goes ‘desperate times call for desperate measures,’ something must be done to address politics in Zambia.
I say this knowing that hooliganism, delinquency, trouble making are all politically insufficient measures to put a check in our politics.
This is were President Lungu’s appeal for participation of Christians and the inculcation of Christian tenets in politics comes in.
To political players, I say politics is not something to trivialise and must involve all stakeholders including noble men and women of the Christian faith.
Zambia is at a political crossroads and it is not economists, lawyers, business giants or theologians nor men with a reputation of being blunt speakers who can change things.
Harold D Laswell said, “Politics is an area in which participants are striving to accomplish their purposes by influencing outcomes, their purposes are to maximize power and values.”
Trut to this quote, international politics as well as national politics operate on this pendulum.
In this case we are looking at national politics calling for an adequate national political philosophy to create national balance and secure nationhood amongst the political players which will give right power and values to our nationhood instead of maximising mediocre values that we are witnessing.
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr gave an illustrious example and model of noble political and social campaign, which he did without scorn of people.
The clergyman instead called them into the greatness of their nation with love and a voice of reason reconciling them to the unity of his nation.
He tabled the grave political and social situations of his time as a man who understood the required dignity and rectitude of a statesman and citizen to a national call.
It’s time for a paradigm shift to be fuelled by Christian tenets if we are to move in a right direction in a Christian country that Zambia is.
Historian William Durant said, “There is no significant example in history before our time, of a society successfully maintaining a moral virtuous life without the aid of religion.
Our paradigm shift is possible; we can walk worthily into our destiny as a nation with a befitting dignity of proud and free men.
God Bless Zambia.

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