ZAMBIA: Church Concerned with Deteriorating General Livelihood of People.
Mr. Eugene Kabilika Director Caritas Zambia displays the newly launched strategic plan
Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) Secretary General Rev. Fr. Cleophas Lungu has reiterated that the Church is always concerned when health, education, human rights, climate change, and the general livelihood of the people continue to deteriorate.
Fr. Lungu revealed that, the Church is also worried when government policies fail to improve the livelihood of the people, especially the less fortunate in the society.
Caritas Zambia Strategic Plan 2018-2022
Speaking when he launched Caritas- Zambia’s 2018-2022 Strategic Plan on Friday, 9th March, 2018, Fr. Lungu said that because of deteriorating general livelihood of the people Caritas Zambia has been given the noble mandate to promote integral human development.
He noted that the Catholic Church in Zambia has continued to publicly express its concern that, despite Zambia being a rich country with abundant natural resources, many of its people have continued to live in poverty.
“Despite Zambia being a rich country with abundant natural resources, many of its people have continued to live in poverty. This paradox has not helped in a situation where national resources continue to be plundered while the many Zambians just watch and do nothing,” he said.
The ZCCB Secretary General further echoed the Catholic Church’s continued voice on the need for prudent use of God-given resources calling upon men and women of good will to stand for social and economic justice.
“Again, we wish to restate what we have said before, that the conspiracy of silence is not helping the situation. If anything, it is actually killing us. This is because the Church believes that “If we want true peace, we must work for justice.”
On the other hand, when the Church speaks out about these social, economic and political issues, it is sometimes accused of having been sponsored by the opposition and of working with others that are pushing for regime change and that the Church has become political.
“Is the Church wrong to ask about the huge sums of money that the Auditor General’s office has continued to report missing or misapplied, year in and year out? Surely, if these resources were put to good use, we believe that there would be sufficient medicine in hospitals. The Farmers In-put Support Program would be efficient and more beneficial to farmers. The standard of education would improve, descent work for our youths would be created and the general economic situation of the country would be more bearable for many,” he said.
Fr. Lungu further pledged that in accordance with the vision and mission of the Catholic Bishops in Zambia and through Caritas-Zambia, the Church will continue to be government’s key partner in developing Zambia.
He has since sent special thanks to Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), CAFOD, Irish Aid, CRS, JCP, Diakonia and other Cooperating Partners that provided both financial and technical support during the process of drafting Caritas Zambia’s 2018-2022 strategic plan.
The mandate of Caritas Zambia is to foster the Social Ministry of the Catholic Church in Zambia inspired by the Catholic Social Teaching and the Gospel values. Caritas Zambia is committed to the promotion of human dignity through programmes that endeavour to uplift the livelihood of the poor and marginalised from their situation and confronting structures that deprive and oppress the weak in society.
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By Mwenya Mukuku, ZCCB Communications Officer
