Since his resignation from the Zesco board and consequent decision to form a political party, Catholic priest Father Frank Bwalya has fallen from hero to villain in the eyes of the ruling Patriotic Front.
Suddenly, Fr Bwalya is a subject of incessant attacks at the hands of President Michael Sata, the PF and its agents.
The PF propaganda wing – The Post Newspaper – has even stripped Fr Bwalya of his
pastoral title now only referring to him by his last name – Bwalya – as a way of discrediting him to his supporters, sympathisers and the Catholic Church where he enjoys exuberant support.
To further discredit Fr Bwalya, the PF are ridiculously lumping gay rights support on the priest – a topic detested and opposed by majority Zambians – in order to turn his supporters against because the topic in question is one many Zambians don’t support.
This is the same Fr Bwalya, whose red card campaign, prior to the 2011 elections embraced overwhelming support from the PF. They used it as a trump card to remove the MMD. Together with Fr Bwalya, the PF swept through the Copperbelt and won the hearts of many Zambians, particularly youths.
And six months after Fr Bwalya served the quasi Zesco board leaving his lucrative position as chairman, he is a subject of a vicious campaign to ridicule him and probably throw him into political obscurity.
PF national youth chairman Chishimba Kambwili was among the first top officials to launch a scathing attack on Fr Bwalya. During a phone in programme on radio Phoenix, Kambwili branded Fr Bwalya “a mad priest”.
Kambwili said; “Stop misleading the people. Ifyo mulecita ba Father Bwalya fyabupuba (what you are doing is stupid).
“Nawamba ukupena iwe, efyo balandila ati umuntu ngafuma kubupatili alapena (You’re running mad. That’s why people say when a man leaves Priesthood, he runs mad).”
That was not it. Kambwili further alleged Fr Bwalya had run broke and turned to politics as a livelihood for survival. Defence minister Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba commonly known as
GBM also came on the scene to attack Fr Bwalya.
However, the priest has remained undeterred. And now his life is under threat. Shortly after a Radio Programme on Radio Phoenix, PF cadres waylaid him at Levy Junction Shopping Complex to effect physical counseling for what they termed, “attacks on their leadership.”
Not only is Fr Bwalya’s life in danger, the people that surround him and those who attempt to contact him either by phone or any other means to offer solidarity with his newly formed Alliance for Better Zambia (ABZ) are under massive surveillance from state agents. Even journalists that call Fr Bwalya are being monitored. His fellow priest are equally under fire.
President Sata, in an attempt to appear smart and intelligent in his indirect response to Fr Bwalya, hired some 20 poor old men disguising them as former Freedom Fighters – whatever it means or whoever they are – from Muchinga ferrying them to State House in Lusaka to come and attack the priest.
Yet the most desperate and ridiculous smear campaign emerged this week when the State-owned but PF controlled Times of Zambia and other sister media carried a report that Fr. Bwalya has endorsed gay rights.
Knowing too well that President Sata has never made his position clear on the same issue he has allegedly supported but majority Zambians loudly oppose, the PF found an opportunity to taint the priest’s image.
In a well orchestrated government propaganda strategy, the “Fr Bwalya Supports Gay Rights” article was on the State House website confirming President Sata’s endorsement of the campaign and later spiraled to other outlets with sources of all hues and shapes rising to condemn the man of the pulpit.
Thereafter, Kambwili and other surrogate PF praise singers were on every media giving airtime further condemning Fr Bwalya for the alleged stance even where he had disputed the attribution. Provided it made him look evil in the eyes of the public, the PF sponsored media are determined to thrust it down his throat irrespective of whether he supports what they suggest or not.
Clearly, Fr Bwalya’s decision to defect from the PF and launch his political path caught President Sata and his supporters unawares. They can’t fathom a former ally, apparently armed with all their tricks, on the other side of the political coin.
They are dead scared Fr Bwalya will soon reveal how the increase in Zesco tariffs is channeled towards the widely condemned and wasteful by-elections the PF is busy creating through sponsored and calculated defections by opposition Members of Parliament to gain legislative majority.
Yes, they are aware that Fr Bwalya knows all the trick in their book regarding the PF’s 2011 ascendance to power, where they got the funds and how they covertly engaged the Parallel Voter Tabulation (PVT) in their favour.
This, and not Fr Bwalya’s decision to form a political party, is what is causing sleepless nights among the PF leadership. In fact, sources at State House are confirming that President Sata is not sleeping at the mention of Fr Bwalya in the opposition.
Maybe this paranoia from President Sata, the PF and its agents is understandable. Whoever the sponsor, one of their own has turned against them and there is reason not to sleep because they’ll certainly exit the door from power earlier than they thought they got their hold on it.
But as determined as they are to remain in charge and entrench their hold on power, it will be unsurprising to hear or see Fr Bwalya start trekking to court for alleged corruption charges.
Fourth president Rupiah Banda, MMD leader Nevers Mumba, UPND’s Hakainde Hichilema all stand accused on trumped up charges in an attempt to distract them from continuing to play a key role in the opposition.
For now, Fr Bwalya is only a subject of vicious ridicule and only when it fails can the strategy by the PF against him change to something else, probably something even worse.
However, as a man of the collar, Fr Bwalya should find comfort in scripture particularly the words drawn from the Gospel of Mathew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11″Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. 12″Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
That is why by attacking Fr Bwalya so furiously, the PF is actually making the mistake of highlighting his importance, and as such, it is going to make him, and the opposition at large, stronger.
The post Opinion: PF Attacks against Fr Bwalya Only Make Him Stronger appeared first on Zambia Reports.