By Bowman Lusambo
The Holy Bible in James 1:22-24 is very instructive. “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”
Attempts by some people to concoct numerous versions from President Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s Embassy Park interview was going to be laughable if it weren’t serious.
A horde of fully grown individuals with supposedly functional faculties are purposely failing to understand, in the truest sense of the word, President Lungu’s advice to Zambians.
How does a leader who reminds the nation to be genuine in its quest for love and unity become bitter? How can a leader who reminds all of us to practice what we preach be labeled unforgiving?
President Lungu made a general call for all of us to practice what we preach, even the Holy book commands us so. President Lungu was not in anyway targeting his counsel at anyone least of all President Hakainde Hichilema.
If there is anything that President Banda’s funeral has managed to achieve is to remind all of us on the genuine need to love one another as President Banda demonstrated during his long life.
Therefore, a comment during an interview to reinforce the exact values that President Banda espoused should not attract ridicule and insults unless we all want to behave like fully grown ostriches.
On any other day, what President Lungu said could have been said by anyone including President Hichilema himself. The mood, time and location was ideal for such a statement. We should as Zambians stop the habit of demonizing thoughts and ideas coming from people we may not like.
President Lungu has suffered high grade persecution since leaving office. The people who worked and served him have all been harassed, victimized and some tortured.
As the world focused on President Banda’s funeral, President Lungu’s close associates Samuel Mukupa and Hibeene Mwiinga’s properties were sealed off and surrounded by armed officers. In the glare of the cameras, President Hichilema can put up an act but some of us know the kind of person he is and we will not fall for such acts.
President Lungu’s statement was apt, the reaction seen so far only goes to confirm that he touched a raw nerve.
Interestingly, for a nation that espouses democratic values, our ability to condemn everything including thoughts from our perceived enemies is a huge deficiency on our part.
As Christians, we should by all means practice what we preach, on and off camera.
