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Bishop Zuza sermon stuns Mutharika at National Prayers
| August 16, 2011 · 106 Comments |
By Evelyn Chibwe, Nyasa Times
President Bingu wa Mutharika had a rude awakening when head of the Catholic church in Malawi, His Grace Bishop Joseph Mukasa Zuza bluntly said in his presence that he should stop gagging the civil society, the media and the faith community, saying they had a role to play in safeguarding the hard-won democracy and the rule of law.
He made the remarks at the National Day of Prayers whose theme was “A Nation Seeking God’s Intervention in Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Peace,” which were held at Comesa Hall in Blantyre on Tuesday.
Delivering the English sermon at the event, which was also attended by the First Lady, Calista Mutharika, Bishop Zuza said that the current social, political and economic problems were “of our own making depending on our respective roles”.
The Bishop said more often than not, stakeholders tend to point fingers at each other for the worsening problems the country is facing, but said more worrying is that those with “more authority” threaten others.
Bishop Zuza: Let us extinguish the fire
“They tell us (clergy) not to interfere with politics; we are seen as intruders. They say that the civil society organizations were not elected; yes they were indeed not elected but they are working for the good of the nation,” said the man of God.
The Chairperson of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi added that the media has not been spared in the smear campaign, but observed the media was doing a commendable job to inform the people what is happening.
The Bishop also admonished others who blame government and leadership for what is taking place, saying such people usually say “this government started very well” but it has derailed and that the leadership has stopped “listening”, “what kind of advisors does the president have?”
Zuza . who heads Mzuzu Diocese said all this was counterproductive and that instead, Malawians must examine their consciences, saying all human beings have weaknesses and strengths.
“When Adam and Eve had sinned to God, Adam blamed Eve, ‘the wife you have given me oh Lord’, and in turn, Eve shifted the blame to the snake. Let’s not be like Adam and Eve but accept our weaknesses and turn them into strengths,” the Bishop said.
In a more blunt tone, Bishop Zuza said any person who thinks is always perfect is wrong, saying that Malawians merely have the responsibility to find lasting solutions to the “current” storm. He said that those that believe are perfect than others are even worse.
“God helps those that help themselves. Let’s work together to restore the peace that Malawi has always enjoyed. You Excellency, the DPP, the opposition, the NGOs, let’s extinguish the fire,” he said.
The Bishop concluded by reiterating that the Catholic Bishops and the clergy at large would continue to carry out their prophetic role by pointing out any ills that the society suffers under its rulers.
He said that they were always closer to the people and “they tell us what they feel,” saying he had accepted “wholeheartedly” when he was approached to give a sermon during the special prayers.
Giving his sermon in vernacular Chichewa, Pastor Frackson Kuyama of Seventh Day Adventist said by tradition and culture, Malawians are a peaceful people and urged on all Malawians to maintain peace and tranquility in the face of the current problems.
Reverend Malani Mtonga, Chairman of the Church Foundation for Integrity and Democracy (CFID) commended the clergy for organizing the prayers.
“This is what we’ve been advocating for as CFID that the way things have been going, Malawi needed divine intervention. It is only through prayer that we have authority over Satan to thwart his plans, put down his strongholds and release his captives,” he said when Nyasa Times sought his comment on the event.
Rev. Mtonga went on to say that prayer can change Malawi and can “open closed doors and that prayer can also make dictators to become democrats and that with prayer we can put down and raise up leaders”
The prayers were organized by the Malawi Council of Churches (MCC), Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) and the Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) as a “moment of reflection on the turn of events surrounding July 20, 2011 public demonstrations”.
On that day, what was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration regarding economic and governance issues was marred by court injunctions, violence, loss of lives and looting.
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Tags: Bingu wa Mutharika, Bishop Joseph Zuza, demonstrations, media, Roman Catholic Church
106 Responses to “Bishop Zuza sermon stuns Mutharika at National Prayers”
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The brave act of Tunisia’s Bouazizi, lest we forget!
At the expense of repeating the old, I quote: ‘On the surface, 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi was an ordinary Tunisian. Known locally as Basboosa he had graduated from high school in the small town of Sidi Bouzid in central Tunisia, and after struggling to find a job he had taken to the streets with a wheelbarrow to sell fruit. As the main breadwinner in his extended family supported his parents and six younger siblings on less than a hundred dollars a a month. And like many others he was regularly stopped by the police who expected him to pay bribes.
‘But when the police trashed his wheelbarrow in December last year the humiliation proved too much. Bouazizi sat down in front of the mayor’s office with a can of lighter fluid and set fire on himself. It was an extraordinary personal act that represented the collective rage of the Tunisian population and would prove the catalyst for historic and wide-sweeping change.’
How many of us in Malawi can be as brave as Bouazizi? Or how many in Tunisia would be as brave? Think of it, he had a wheelbarrow of fruit to sell from which he made less than one hundred dollars with which he supported his family, nothing else. Could he have loved the wheelbarrow of fruit more than his own life? Revolutions are sometimes acts of isolated incidents and necessarily organized… MW needs such bravely – singularly, individually, collectively, severally or nationally. It is time! (Kinako!)
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ReplyBon Kalindo, go and read your bible, if you have one, you will be stunned to see how many times the word “foolish” is used. Men of GOD are meant to be ‘straight-taulk’ people.
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ReplyThis is indeed the role of the prophet. To be the conscious of the society. To offer guidance
and critique where it is going astray. To carry the burden on behalf of the people. Even when
it means communicating to the leadership a truth that it does not like to hear.
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Replyeh koma mwandinyasa i think the bishop ana tumidwa by the devil, malawians open ur eyes look u like people who do wrong and hate people who do right how foolsh.and how can a bishop say that in a prayer and in front of a president.he is very stupid himself open ur eyes my fellow malawians.
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ReplyChule anadabwa mmadzi muli mwake!!
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ReplyI personnaly liked that part where the Bishop said anyone who thinks he knows everything is ‘stupid’. Bingu freely calls his critis ‘stupid’ including donors who can immediately help him out by releasing Forex which they are withholding. For a change it was nice to hear him being called stupid as well. Maybe, just maybe he now has an idea of how it feels like to be called’ Stupid’. All he needs to do is to acknowledge that he is not the only wise person in world.
I would however fault the Bishop in suggesting that the problems we have are ‘of our own making’. Our problems are solely due to Bingu’s making. We should not try to be seen to be fair by apportioning blame to many people. Malawi is where it is now because one person has decided that nothing else matters but his own ideas. If Bingu changed tack and started thinking about the good of Malawians, that same day things would start to change. We should not water down the dire effect of one man’s actions by trying to include other people in ‘the blame game’.
In conclusion my message to you ‘Bon Kalindo’ is that you can run but you cannot hide. So long as your boss does not change tack, he will not know peace. He has to find ways of ending the shortages now. This is not open to debate.
He may crush organised protests; but he cannot stop spontaneous protests which are going to occur in many places if these shortages persist. People will not rise up because he refuses to explain how he built Ndata Palace; they will rise up because he is failing to provide fuel, electricity, water and drugs in Govt hospitals.
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