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Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) spokesman Robert Mwaungulu declared on Tuesday that his Roman Catholic Church has no priest practising partisan politics.
Recently, the ruling UDF including President Bakili Muluzi has spoken against religious leaders preaching against his party’s injustices and condemned them of practising partisan politics.
And on January 22, three days after Muluzi accused church NGOs of being partisan, Electoral Commission (EC) threatened to remove Public Affairs Committee (Pac) and its affiliates; Blantyre Synod, ECM and its wing of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) from the civic education campaign, accusing them of partisanship.
And asked to clarify a press statement by ECM released on January 27, which stated that “any cleric or religious person who is engaged in partisan politics does so against the policy of the Church”, Mwaungulu said the statement does not come as a reaction to the conduct of any religious person but clarifies the “church’s right to condemn injustice”.
He said the statement is a general one which is defending gospel values.
But Mwaungulu said the people making the accusations against the church, including EC should come out in the open and “give clear examples where the priests in the Catholic Church have been seen to be partisan”.
He said there has been no nun, brother or priest who has been seen to have gone headlong into politics.
“A person has to be seen to have really gone headlong into politics, neglecting his duties and going against the policy of the church,” said Mwaungulu.
He also condemned EC of “dragging ECM into its quarrels with Pac” saying CCJP/ECM was accredited to carry out civic education separately from Pac.
“The Electoral Commission shouldn’t generalise issues. They should point to us which priests have been partisan and where,” said Mwaungulu.
And the press statement from ECM encourages the Catholic faithful and “particularly its CCJP” to double its effort in focusing in civic/voters education and election monitoring, saying this will ensure that the electorate is well informed so that the leaders to be chosen shall be for the good of Malawi and well being of its people.
“Under the inspiration of the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Catholic Social Teaching, the Church focuses on the promotion of the common good, good governance, development for all, the rule of law and upholding human dignity and respect for human rights,” said the statement.
Meanwhile, EC spokesman Fegus Lipenga said the Commission gave in to Pac’s demands to postpone a meeting initially scheduled for January 31 after Pac said it was not ready for the meeting.
“We’ve allowed to meet them on the date they have proposed which is February 6,” said Lipenga.
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