IF you are a churchgoer you will probably agree with me that the way preachers, Priests, Fathers, Pastors or is it deacons depending what they are called at your church say things, it is as if they are directly talking to you.
I am a Catholic myself. Many times I have attended mass, whether at my church in Chifubu Township or elsewhere. During these times I have experienced guilt as the priest gives his sermons.
When the priest is giving his sermon it is as if he is talking to me because he says the exact things that I do as a sinner.
However, I only get consoled because Fathers or Priests don’t personally know me although there are people who know me, I doubt whether anyone would go to them and say things about me which they would in turn talk about in church.
I am sure it is not only me who feels this way. Many, if not all of us, feel the same way.
On two occasions, I felt completely convinced that during his sermons, the Father was talking about me, but one Sunday I was relieved when I saw the man who was seated next to me shake his head and say: “It is true. Many of us are like that.”
A few years back during general election campaigns, a Priest at one of the churches in Ndola talked about how politicians were not telling the electorate the truth and how they deserted them soon after being elected as members of Parliament (MPs).
I thought the Priest was talking about someone who was aspiring for a seat as an MP who happened to be in the congregation but I later came to know that he (the priest) did not even know that this politician was part of the audience.
I was seated close to this person who wanted to be an MP for a constituency in Ndola and I saw how he was fidgeting when the Father was talking about how politicians wanted to be close to the electorate during the run up to elections.
And very recently (two weeks ago) when I was in church, I heard one of the parishioners say: “They have now started coming for mass because it is nearing election time. As soon as we vote them in, they will forget about us and we will only be able to see them when it is election time again.”
When I heard this, I did not bother about it because I knew it was always the case that aspiring candidates always wanted to be close to everyone during campaign time.
And when we entered the church and mass started, the priest gave his sermon.
In propounding his message, the Father also talked about how politicians were not sincere with the voters.
The Father said candidates aspiring for positions as MPs only came back to the electorate when it was elections time and after that, they went into oblivion.
“You will start seeing them everywhere, including the churches, because it is nearing election time. After you vote them in, they will forget about you and go into oblivion only to come back during election time again,” the Father said in his sermon.
As an eavesdropper, I thought this was a surprising coincidence. Only a few minutes before we entered the church building someone had commented that they had now started coming for mass because it was nearing election time.
Was this just a coincidence or was someone aspiring for a position as an MP for  a particular party attending this church service?
It was when I was thinking about this when I heard someone saying in a low voice to his friend that there was someone who was looking forward to be an MP for the constituency who had come to church.
“But I am surprised. How has the Father known that this man is here?” his friend asked.
As an eavesdropper, I was now more interested to listen to this subject.
“You will be seeing them now. They will be giving donations and all sorts of pledges because they want to win your votes,” the Father emphasised.
“Awe. Ba Father tabeshibeukuti aba balikuno, balelandilamofye,” the man told his friend. (No. The Father does not know that this man is attending this mass. He is just saying).
The man promised to show his friend the aspiring candidate when time to give offering  came.
Because I also wanted to confirm what the man was saying, I also got up and followed them outside where they went to pick the envelopes in which to put their offering.
Although I did not have enough money, I also picked an envelope and put the only money I had in it.
I joined the queue just behind the two men.
Soon, the man was pointing at the supposed would-be aspiring candidate as he picked the envelop from the basket and staffed it with, I don’t know how much, offering and joined the queue.
“Busheba Father balibeshiba?” (Does the priest know this man?) the other man asked the man who was said to be the one who wanted to vie for the position of MP.
“I don’t know whether he knows him or not, but one thing I know for sure is that he does not know that this man is here. In fact he does not congregate here but he has come so that he can be seen by the people,” explained the man.
When I looked at the man who was being discussed, I noticed that he looked dejected, perhaps because of the priest’s remarks.
Was he thinking that the priest knew of his presence and had deliberately talked about him in his sermon as being one of those who only appeared during election time?
We walked on and dropped our envelopes in the offering baskets.
After mass ended and the priest had gone to his office, I saw a number of people crowding the aspiring candidate and greeting him as ‘Ba Honorable’.
I also noticed that some people that this man was with were party cadres .
Another thing I was sure of was that this man was feeling as guilty as I used to feel when the Father talked about things which I do, during his sermons. It could just have been a coincidence.
In 2016, Zambians will once again be electing a president and MPs.
As priests say in their sermons, it is true that many people who are elected as MPs stop visiting their constituencies.
On many occasions voters have complained that their MPs neglect them when the elections are over.
As the elections near, a good number of people who want to stand as MPs in various constituencies have started appearing and are very good to the would-be voters.
Although political parties are yet to adopt their preferred candidates, the men and women looking forward to become MPs have already started promising the electorate what they will do for them once elected.
For comments:potipher2014@gmail.com.09559276,0966278597..