Former Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Sketchley Sacika says the prayers which citizens said during the National Day of Prayer and Reconciliation will not strengthen the Zambian economy.

In an interview, Dr Sacika said Zambia has man-made problems which could only be solved by putting in the work.

“The National Day of Prayers has come and gone, but nothing will change. We will go through the same emotions again next year. Prayer which is offered out of guilt and which does not come out of spiritual conviction is worthless and it brings no benefit to a person offering such prayers. Offering prayers for the economy to perform shows disturbing signs in a government that means well for its citizens, it’s like a jobless person praying to God to find him a job when he’s doing nothing about it himself. God’s providence is possible in our lives as human beings. But God’s providence will never come to us unless we observe God’s words. We cannot have a successful economy unless we are prepared to work hard for it. If we want a peaceful Zambia, we must work for peace. The police, the army and draconian laws can never guarantee peace,” Dr Sacika said.

Dr Sacika Zambia was in a meltdown because state institutions had fallen apart.

“You have to face up to the consequences of your actions, in other words, reap what we sow. Reconciliation and national harmony are not matters for prayers, these are matters we must work out through taking practical steps. The Bemba have a saying which I find most appropriate, the Bembas say ‘mwikala patalala mwine apatalalika (one has to create their own peace)’. So you cannot expect peace if you don’t follow the Bemba saying. Now Zambia is in a meltdown, we are in a meltdown because our state institutions have fallen apart. Instead of establishing a meritocracy, our politicians have chosen to create a corrupt system of a political party, regionalism and tribalism as a basis for running state institutions and as a result, nothing is working. For example, how can the government fail to run the Post Offices? This is the first time in the history of our country that a government has failed to run these ordinary Post Offices. So now is not time for prayers for things to improve, this is time for practical solutions,” said Dr Sacika.

“Here in Zambia, our problems are man-made, they have got nothing to do with God. Therefore, expecting that God will intervene is to be unrealistic and unreasonable. It is time our politicians stopped giving the people false hope and it is time that they assumed the responsibility for whatever is happening in our country. God has no interest in Zambia being a Christian nation, if we fail to govern ourselves, we shall sink and disintegrate and God will not help us. We are seeing this disintegration in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabweans are also God’s children but because they are failing to govern themselves, their country has become a failed state. So it all starts with us, we need to do something ourselves before turning to God. There is a misunderstanding somewhere that if we pray then things will be okay for us, but that is a serious misunderstanding.”