20100405
ALLAFRICA

SENIOR Chief Mukuni has advised Roman Catholic priest Frank Bwalya to reconsider his stance on the Red Card Campaign which he said was misplaced and not making any sense.

Senior Chief Mukuni of the Toka Leya people of Kazungula District in Southern Province said instead of politicking, the Catholic clergy should return to the pulpit.

"Let him get back to the pulpit. I am a Catholic and I don't support what he is doing. He is my priest and I urge him to go back and conduct mass," he said in an interview on Saturday.

He said Zambians did not understand the real value of Father Bwalya's Red Card Campaign which he said if not checked could plunge the country into chaos.

He said the Red Card Campaign by Fr Bwalya was an elitist campaign which had no bearing on the Zambian masses.

"The so called Red Card Campaign is neither here nor there. It is an elitist campaign and the people don't know about it," he said.

Senior chief Mukuni said just like the assistant parish priest at Saint Ignatius in Lusaka had preached during Easter Day Celebration mass which was attended by most of the political party leaders, Easter period should be a period of love and reconciliation.

Senior Chief Mukuni said the country experienced a pleasant Easter weekend which should be cemented by the leaders' unity of purpose.

The chief, who owns Mukuni Big five safaris, said it was pleasing to note that local tourism had increased during the Easter holiday weekend.

He urged other tour operators to give reasonable discounts to the local tourists so that they could be accorded a chance to view tourist attraction facilities.

Meanwhile, the MMD in Western Province has challenged Fr Bwalya and other civil society organisations advocating the Red Card Campaign to register it as a political party so that it can challenge the MMD in the coming general elections.

Western Province MMD chairperson Simasiku Namakando in an interview yesterday said those advocating the red card campaign were behaving as a political party wanting to remove the MMD from office.

Mr Namakando said those advocating for the Red Card Campaign had departed from the church and their intentions were clearly not in the interest of the nation.

He said people from Western Province would not welcome anyone advocating the Red Card Campaign because they were mature citizens who knew what was good and bad for them.

" It is not necessary for the Zambian people to be incited to join the Red Card Campaign which is operating like a political party aimed at removing the MMD from power, the best it can do is register it as a party and then challenge it when we go for general elections," he said.

He said NGOs and churches should not be a group of people who preached anarchy and chaos but peace in Zambia.