Church urges scrutiny of presidential candidates

Church urges scrutiny of presidential candidates

THE Christian Churches Monitoring Group says Zambians should strictly assess those that are contesting the January 20, 2015 presidential election.

And the Christian Churches Monitoring Group is preparing for a Parallel Vote Tabulation ( PVT) exercise to be used as a tool for monitoring the integrity of the election results for the presidential election.

Faith- Based Organisations, namely, Council of Churches in Zambia ( CCZ), Zambia Episcopal Conference ( ZEC), Evangelical Fellowship in Zambia ( EFZ) and the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflections ( JCTR), have come together under a consortium called Christian Churches Monitoring Group ( CCMG) to monitor the presidential election and the entire electoral process.

 

During the launch of the monitoring coalition, ZEC secretary general Fr Cleophas Lungu, who was representing the four faithbased organisations, said there was need for Zambians to take their time to study all individuals offering themselves for election.

“Elect a person you would entrust with the responsibility of managing your country. Choose a person that has genuine concern for the welfare of all Zambians. Have they exhibited commitment to the common good and respect of ordinary people? What policies and values do they project? Are they arrogant and treat people they are supposed to serve with scorn and disrespect? Are they humble? Strictly assess those who stand for election and use your good conscience and judgment to choose the best person in your assessment,” he said.

Fr Lungu said political acrimony was alien and that ultimately, the people would choose who they want.

And Fr Lungu said the CCMG would particularly focus on management of election results, which had to date been one of the most contentious areas of elections - The Post Zambia.

About Caritas Zambia

Caritas Zambia is a Catholic Organisation that is an integral structure of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB). The Conference of Bishops is a permanent grouping of Bishops of a given nation or territory that jointly exercises certain pastoral functions on behalf of the Christian faithful of their territory. This is done for the sake of effective evangelisation. To promote the principle of the common good which the Church offers humankind, especially through forms and programmes of the apostolate which are fittingly adapted to the circumstances of the time and place, is the role of Bishops.