In late April, the popular Catholic priest Father Frank Bwalya, who for years hosted a well known radio program on the Copperbelt, announced his departure from the Patriotic Front (PF) government, stepping down from his position as chairman of the board at the state-owned utility ZESCO and announcing his plans to compete against his former colleagues. The unexpected event has created a political storm in Zambia, as the state media has attacked him while the opposition appears weary. Fr Bwalya sat down with Zambia Reports this week for an exclusive interview to discuss his decisions and intentions.
Q: Do you feel you safety is at risk since your resignation?
My safety is at risk. The safety of people who call my phone is at risk. The safety of my family is at risk, and the safety of anyone who tries to openly join me in my cause, such as joining the party I want to form, they are all at risk.
Earlier this week I was physically attacked by PF cadres, and although some were arrested, they were released without following a phone call from State House.
We are living in a country that has made many strides torward democracy, but suddenly, we are going back to the old one-party state mentality. The reason is that we have made a mistake by putting into office a man who was a police officer under the colonial government, who has the same colonial mentality, to the point that the man makes personal phone calls to intimidate people.
The only offense I have committed is to say that I can make a better president. And because people want me to go for it, I am declaring my willingness to go for it.
Q: Why did you support the PF in the 2011 presidential campaign?
I started my own cause, championing issues of justice, good governance, and media law reforms, because I am trained journalist at the same time. I’ve occupied very high positions in the media fraternity in the country, including as chairperson for the national governing council for the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Zambia Chapter. I was station manager of the Catholic-owned radio station on the Copperbelt, the most powerful radio station at the time to provide a voice for the voiceless. I was there 8 years. I was championing these causes and challenging the powers that be, focusing on advancing the entrenchment of democracy.
It’s not the first time in my life that I am being followed like I am now. The only thing that changes in my life is who is following me.
Q: After six months on the board at ZESCO, why did you quit now, instead of earlier or later?
The reason why I accepted the chairmanship at ZESCO was that I believed, that as the most powerful state enterprise in Zambia, that I would have access to the president, because I had issues that I wanted to bring to his attention, issues from the election campaign platform. So I realized that when I got there, he was not even interested in meeting me. Now imagine, you are a chairman of the country’s most powerful and largest state enterprise, the president appoints you – of course through the minister – and he will not even make room for you to come meet him to say thank you or even just to interact with him.
Q: But was there any specific event within the administration that triggered your decision?
I just thought it was time for me to forgo that position and reclaim my independent voice to criticize the government. It came to the point where I could just not take any more of what is happening to this country in terms of human rights. This is a man, the president that we have today, who suffered a lot under the previous government in terms of being denied democratic space to exercise his rights and run his political party.
We sincerely believed that he would change the culture and stop the violation of human rights and provide better governance, although we had been warned by some people who had worked with him in the past, that he would become dictatorial and intolerant. But we felt things were so bad under the previous government that we needed a front to remove them.
There’s a historical problem in this country that when we vote for a government, there’s too much goodwill on behalf of the people, and we allow such a government to entrench itself, and by the time we want to remove them by the same democratic process that we put them there, it becomes very difficult. Election rigging, manipulation of results, bribing of people and organizations to campaign for them, and unfortunately, in Zambia and many other countries in Africa, government is the biggest employer, so people are very afraid to speak out when it could cost them or their relatives their means of employment.
Q: Did your resignation from ZESCO have anything to do with management issues, such as load shedding?
No. My reason for resigning had nothing to do with the performance of ZESCO.
Q: Many opposition members have been treated harshly – Hakainde Hichilema has been arrested at least five times, while others say that they have been subjected to politically motivated corruption trials. Are you afraid that a similar fate awaits you?
I am not afraid about that, because I’ve gone to court several times on trumped up charges under the last government. I was acquitted in one case, and they withdrew the other case because people had rioted, and they feared that the rioting would spread, so they pulled the case. Anytime I was arrested, I would always say ‘I deny the charge, take me to court.’
If they want to come for me now, I would cooperate with the police, because I am a law-abiding citizen. And the police are very respectful towards me, so I would cooperate.
Q: Some of your critics say you made this decision out of greed – that you were angry that the PF had not given you certain ministerial positions. What’s your response to them?
Don’t listen to those people, because those are the same people from the government. And the same government is saying now that they were about to fire me. The same people are also saying that they shouldn’t have advised the president to appoint me. And the reason is simple – they know that I don’t compromise, they know I am a good leader, I don’t have a lot of money, but because I am a priest, I can afford to live on little income and survive without a job. So those who are saying that are only saying it to attempt to neutralize the impact of what my resignation has done.
Another thing is that it is unprecedented in this country – I may be the first and only one who has resigned from a position of prestige, a position of such privileges and benefits after just six months, giving up this big car and all the allowances I was throwing – and it just shocked them. They thought ‘once we put this guy in this position, then we are done, we are going to shut him up.’
Q: You recently debated with the PF’s National Youth Chairman Chishimba Kambwili on radio. Are there more people like you inside the PF who are upset with the leadership?
All of us! Everyone is upset with the president – not with the policies – but with the president. You recall when the former American President George W. Bush visited State House, the president embarrassed him in a way that you don’t treat a visitor. When President Bush tried to talk about some of his charity projects, our president told him ‘you are just returning what you have stolen from Africa.’
There are many people in the PF who are upset with him – the country is upset with him – and he knows it. During the Labor Day speech, he gave a speech using very insulting language, publicly using profanities, and it was not the first time. During the opening session of parliament, he also said ‘some of you have names that when shortened are an insult.’ In our culture, when you say that, you are insulting the person.
Q: What role do you see for yourself in the opposition?
If you go around and ask anyone, ‘what is happening in Zambia?’, they will tell you that there is a lot of heat. Ask them why, and they will tell you ‘because of what Fr Bwalya has been saying.’
Our national TV broadcaster now is full of propaganda programs showing development, the president commissioning a road, building a clinic, but this shows that they know that the people are believing me. Now if they think that the people are believing me, and they are showing these development programs, than what I am doing is good for the country, because it makes the government sit up.
Q: Did you ever consider joining one of the existing parties?
I have been campaigning against the MMD since when it was in power. I campaigned against the Chiluba government, and it was very unpopular at the time, but when it was discovered that he was a thief, we were was vindicated. This time around I say to myself it is not enough just to speak as a civil society organization. Because in this part of the world, the politicians do not listen. Here when you talk about lobbying or advocacy or engaging government to embark on a certain course of action, it doesn’t work. The government simply says we are demanded by the people, ‘who elected you?,’ they would say, ‘they elected us.’
In 2011, I had a huge following on my own. Even now, if I go to the Copperbelt this week or next week, the crowds of supporters will come out. The people follow me because they know I am genuine, they know that I mean well for them, and they know that if I had a position of influence, such as that of president, that I could make a difference in their lives. This is why I decided that I need that power to do what I would like to do for this country. Otherwise if I just keep talking and talking, and it will only be talking and talking, and that’s what the politicians like. For me, they don’t like me, because I don’t just talk.
Q: Zambia’s opposition is fractured. Would you ever see yourself as a uniting force?
Yes, a very big uniting force. But the problem that we are likely to have is that the people who are supporting me would not want me to forgo my vying for the presidency in 2016, and I also think that I should go for it. So there may be a problem there, people would know that if they get together, they are getting together for what? Each one wants to be president. So those things make it very difficult to work together. But myself I am young. If I can find someone I trust, and who would not betray me like President Sata has betrayed the people of Zambia, there’s a possibility that I can work with other people. But the first thing I announced when we decided to form the political party is that we need to create a stronger position, to protect each other, because this guy is just arresting people at will.
Q: In 2011, you asked you followers to vote for PF. Now you asking them not to. Why should they believe you?
No, I am not asking them to reject PF. In fact I am saying to them to support PF, let them deliver, let them finish their mandate, but because of these human rights violations and corruption we are seeing in government, they should not give them another mandate in 2016. What I am saying to them is if you trust me, I am offering myself.
Q: But you told them Mr Sata was a good man?
No, I never said he is a good man. I said vote for him. To say he is a good man is to make a moral judgment, and I didn’t want to come and be responsible for having passed this moral judgment without proof. So I simply said, ‘vote for this man because he is going to give us a new constitution, he is going to stop corruption, he is going to kick out these criminals, and so on.’ I avoided saying he was a good man. It is now when I am saying he is a good man, who means well for the country, but is not doing what he is supposed to.
Q: What’s going to be your platform?
The primary issue is human rights, and coupled with that the issue of intimidation in this country. The practice of certain behaviors that clearly shows we have a government that wants to deplete the opposition and create a one-party state scenario. And we have seen that this government has the capacity to introduce bad laws to do wrong things. So we all fear that they will entrench themselves by adding a majority parliament, everything in the world will be done.
Q: A closing message for the Zambian people?
This country can be better. This country can be better governed. This country deserves leaders that can respect the people who voted for them. This country has the capacity to put in place leaders who respect human rights, renew hope, fight corruption, and improve their lives. That’s my message to Zambians, and they do listen.
The post Exclusive Interview: ‘We Made a Mistake’ – Father Frank Bwalya appeared first on Zambia Reports.