ARCHBISHOP ALICK BANDA IS NOT JUST ANOTHER MAN. HE IS AN INSTITUTION. There are moments in a nation’s life when clarity is demanded, not diplomacy.
This moment that Zambia finds herself in is one of them. To suggest that Archbishop Alick Banda is an “ordinary man” is not merely an error of judgment. It is a failure to understand history, vocation, and the moral architecture of Zambia’s democracy.
The archbishop is not a freelance commentator. He is a custodian of conscience. He does not speak for himself.
Read Full Article on Lusaka Times
[paywall]
He speaks from an altar built by sacrifice, prayer, and centuries of moral witness. That is precisely what the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops made unequivocally clear in its Statement of Solidarity. The statement is not emotional theatre or spiritual poetry.
It is institutional doctrine meeting democratic responsibility head-on. It affirms that Archbishop Banda’s summons is viewed as an attempt to suppress a prophetic voice and weaponise state machinery against pastoral oversight. Those are not casual words.
They are carefully chosen because the Church understands power. It has buried empires that thought themselves eternal. Could someone please sit Mark Simuwe, and the UPND, down and educate them on the following.
The Church in Zambia is not an NGO. It is not an opposition party. It is not a pressure group auditioning for relevance.
It is a foundational pillar of this Christian nation and this unitary republic. Long before slogans, long before party colours, the Church educated, healed, buried, reconciled, and spoke when silence was fashionable. To pretend otherwise is to argue with the past, AND THE PAST ALWAYS WINS.
Let it also be said, plainly and without apology: while faithful Catholics have vowed to stand with their Shepherd, they do not stand alone. We Pentecostals stand with Archbishop Alick Banda too. This is not a denominational quarrel.
It is a matter of civic duty. When one Church is threatened for speaking about the cost of living, governance, justice, and human dignity, every pulpit should feel the tremor, that of the seventh day Adventist church included. Pastors, bishops, and archbishops are called to a life of self-sacrifice.
Their calling is not comfort. It is burden. They are expected to absorb blows so that society does not fracture.
To reduce such a calling to “just another citizen who can be arrested like any other” is to deliberately miss the point. Yes, they are citizens. But they are also sentinels.
And when sentinels are targeted, the gate is already under attack. The comments attributed to Mark Simuwe spread dangerous confusion. To label moral critique as “misbehaviour”, to suggest that preaching about economic hardship turns clergy into politicians, is to demand a Church that baptises silence and sanctifies suffering.
That is not Christianity. That would be a theology convenience. Now, what I personally find disturbing is how they justify verbal assaults under the guise of metaphor.
Invoking Lucifer, fallen glory, and satanic imagery to describe a serving archbishop is not intellectual debate. Tulekwatako umuchinshi! That is sheer provocation masquerading as analysis.
No wonder in the ZCCB press statement the Church is right to condemn name-calling, intimidation, and persecution as wounds to the Body of Christ and as threats to national unity. The ZCCB statement is clear and I quote, “the Church’s voice must remain free TO SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER, to comfort the afflicted, and to guide Zambia toward peace, unity, and justice”. Dialogue and MUTUAL RESPECT, not intimidation, are the lawful currency of a democracy.
Anything else is a drift towards darkness, however well-lit the podium may appear. Archbishop Alick Banda does not need political defence. Institutions do not beg for relevance.
They endure. And that is why this moment matters. Not because of one man, but because of what happens to a nation that forgets the difference between noise and conscience.
[/paywall]
