By Prince Bill M. Kaping’a Political/Social Analyst
The other day, a senior Catholic cleric issued a stinging attack on President Hichilema, accusing him of playing a blind eye to the burning issue of homosexuality in the nation!
“In the last 12 years, we have witnessed an increase in the number of incidents and events that promote LGBTQ tendencies contrary to the laws of Zambia and our Zambian culture. Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of incidents of sodomy where boys and men are raped by fellow boys and men with impunity,” he speculated.
The Bishop further expressed concern at the hosting of an event dubbed Lusaka July where pictures and videos emerged showing attendants double dressing in attires of the opposite sex and appearing to promote LGBTQ behaviour.
Curiously, a catholic priest, who is expected to be a paragon of good morals in society, is reported to have died in the bosoms of his girl friend in Ndola during the same time. Efforts to cover up this unholy union proved futile as the information had already leaked and spread like wild fire!
Isn’t it therefore hypocritical for the Bishop to rush into picking a speck in the eyes of the president, and conviniently choosing to neglect the log that has remained embedded in the eyes of the Catholic Church over the years – inter alia, sodomy, fornication and adultery, involving some very senior priests for that matter! What has the Church done about it?
If we may add salt to injury, did the Lusaka July begin last year or way before UPND formed government? Why then does the good Bishop want to drag an innocent soul all the way to Golgotha and crucify him?
Thank God, Bishop John Mambo has joined the fray and added his voice to the debate as reasonable as possible. He writes, “Like many other Churches that are grappling with sin, the Catholic Church has challenges that the Pope himself has acknowledged and in some cases has apologized to entire indigenous and vulnerable communities and victims, without looking for a president to blame!”
Interestingly, a medical Doctor who has no time keeping himself busy in the wards but rather jumping at every opportunity to entangle himself in protests of one sort or another, has written to the police informing them of his intentions to march to State House to present a petition to the president about what he deems to be the spiralling ugodly sexual acts in the nation – a so called Christian nation!
However, records will show that the president has on umpteenth times unequivocally clarified the position of the New Dawn Administration on this matter. How many times do you want the man to state his position on this matter? Do you want him to abdicate his other responsibilities and concentrate on tackling homosexuality? How do you even go about addessing this problem when it’s actually perpetrated behind the closed doors?
Although she has somehow been slow to respond, it’s gratifying that Information Minister and Chief Gvernment Spokesperson Chushi Kasanda has finally come out it in the open and reaffirmed that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender practice remains illegal in Zambia. What more do you expect government to do?
Stop being hypocrites and slanderers when you are actually philanderers yourselves!