GOVT, CHURCH MUST DIALOGUE

By Fulman Mukobeko

EVANGELICAL Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) Executive Director Andrew Mwenda has called for dialogue between the Church and Government to address issues affecting the nation.

Speaking in an interview, Bishop Mwenda said Government, Church and other stakeholders must come on the round table and discuss pertinent national issues that were beneficial to the country’s development.

He said dialogue between the Church and Government was cardinal.

Bishop Mwenda said the country was currently facing a high cost of living which could be resolved through dialogue.

“I think we need to have time with the Government where we can sit down and talk about the high cost of living, not just pursuing programs, economic recovery programs or debt recovery programs that have no face of the people in them. People are going through a tough time and we need each other, we are partners in this matter,” he said.

Bishop Mwenda said the Church and Government needed to engage people down in the compounds and villages to see what was going on.

“We need more than just a program that is pursued by the government but we need a face in that program and that is the human being. The cost of living needs to be discussed. We need to sit down to dialogue together and work together to make sure that the people understand what they were going through as the people needed to be taken care of,” he said.

Bishop Mwenda said it was a responsibility of the government and the Church to take care of the people.

On the issue of Climate Change, the Bishop said the government and the Church had no choice but to educate citizens on how its impact could be mitigated.

“We need to sensitize the people on what Climate Change is and how we can adapt our lives to this kind of weather, and what we should do especially in the area of planting trees. Most places like Central Province are slowly becoming a desert,” he noted.

The Clergyman urged the media to seriously start disseminating more about charcoal burning in Central Province and other areas, where cutting of trees is heavily extensive.

He said on drought, the Church was already talking with the Government.

He further said recently the Church and the government through the Vice President, Mutale Nalumango had a meeting recently, where short and long-term mitigation measures of drought were discussed.