YOU CANNOT USE PUBLIC EMBARRASSMENT AS PROOF THAT A MAN MUST RESIGN.
A Pastoral Note on Justice and Conscience!
I have noted the verified statement by Hon. Dr. Clement Andeleki calling on His Grace Archbishop Dr. Alick Banda to step down while his case is pending.
With pastoral respect, we must test the logic.
When a citizen is charged, his name is placed on the public record, and he is then told to resign because of the disrepute arising from that very charge, we create circular justice.
You create the storm, then you condemn the man for being wet. That is not accountability. That is circular justice, when publicity itself becomes the verdict.
Let the court decide guilt. Don’t use publicity as the verdict.
Three truths remain:
1. The Church does not belong to Parliament. Under Canon 377, only the Holy Father appoints and removes a Bishop. A Bishop does not resign to an MP or to public opinion. The proper channel is the Apostolic Nuncio.
2. A charge is not a conviction.
Archbishop Banda was charged on 28 September under Section 319, pleaded not guilty, on K80,000 bail until 3 November. Under Article 18, he is presumed innocent. DEC itself warned against inflammatory commentary.
3. If publicity alone empties the pulpit, no church will be free. The Catholic Church is our national conscience. If public disrepute becomes grounds for resignation, tomorrow no pastor, no imam, no chief will dare to speak.
So let us be just:
Let the courts decide the case. Let the Church keep its prophetic voice. But let no politician run the pulpit, and no pulpit run the courtroom.
No one is above the law. But publicity must never be above justice.
We are One Zambia, One Law and One Free Church.
Rev. Peter K. Nsama.
12 October 2026.