By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
THE EVANGELICAL Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) has said that it is not part of the statement which was issued last week by the church saying that Zambia was sliding into a dictatorship.
Last week on Friday, the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) president Telesphore Mpundu issued a statement on the state of the nation which said that Zambia was nearly a dictatorship because of the incarceration of the United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema.
Bishop Mpundu said the statement was read on behalf of the three church mother bodies, ZCCB, EFZ and the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ).
The statement demanded the release of Mr Hichilema and present at the briefing was the EFZ board chairperson Paul Mususu.

But the EFZ yesterday issued a statement saying that it was not part of the statement because it lacked the board approval.
EFZ executive director Pukuta Mwanza said the EFZ secretariat was left out in the preparations for the Press statement which meant that there was no official representation of the church mother body.
“Further, we observed that the conveners chose to only deal with an individual on the board of EFZ rather than corporately as an institution and as such we find the action wanting as it amounted to
undermining the authority of the board of EFZ– a type of ‘divide and rule’,” Reverend Mwanza said.
He said the EFZ was not in support of the statement because of its emotional tone which did not inspire the people but gave them a picture of despair.
Rev Mwanza said the church should remain spiritual and politically neutral and church members should be calm and prayerful.
Meanwhile, the Civil Society Constitution Agenda (CiSCA) has backed Bishop Mpundu’s statement saying that it was true.
At a Press briefing yesterday at Kapingila House, CiSCA chairperson John Maambo said that Zambia was sliding into a dictatorship and Mr Hichilema should be released unconditionally.
After the Press briefing last week, two Catholic bishops have differed with the statement and the United Church of Zambia which is a major stakeholder of CCZ saying that it was not consulted over the statement and did not want to comment on matters before courts.
Other church mother bodies have also come out to condemn the strong statement issued last week saying it was not reconciliatory.