GOVERNANCE activist Brebner Changala says remarks by National Guidance and Religious Affairs Minister Reverend Godfridah Sumaili against the Freemason Foundation following their donation to Chilenje market in Lusaka are personal.

During a press briefing at her office, Tuesday, Rev Sumaili disclosed that her Ministry was gathering more information about the Freemason Foundation after the organization donated protective equipment to Chilenje market traders over the weekend.

Rev Sumaili who also thanked all stakeholders that had assisted government with donations towards the fight against coronavirus said the State would, however, not work with organisations whose “lines of work are not known”.

She said her Ministry had taken particular interest in the donation by the Freemasons society because it had been established that the pioneers of the same were “keeping secrets” and that government would not associate itself with such kinds of people.

But commenting on Rev Sumaili’s remarks in an interview with News Diggers!, Changala wondered if keeping a secret was an offense and also questioned the minister’s moral standing when she was “working for a government of vandals” herself.

“Charity knows no religion; goodwill has no religion or any moral standard. And that lady, Ms Sumaili must not talk about morality because she’s a member of an immoral organisation called Zambian government. They must not judge others and should not choose which organisation shall contribute and which ones shall not contribute to the fight against coronavirus. Everybody is in it in this COVID-19 pandemic. Her coming out to condemn people she doesn’t believe in because they keep secrets… and let me tell her, she has more secrets than the people she’s condemning. She cannot set a standard about the people she doesn’t understand, about the people she doesn’t know. How much does she know about Freemasons? We are sick and tired of this hypocrisy with our government officials. We are sick and tired of these people in government speaking ill against others in our name as citizens of this country,” Changala said.

He further charged that Rev Sumaili had not moral right to judge anyone because she was just as guilty as any other sinner in the world.

“Sumaili has no moral right to judge any other person; and to be put plainly, her ministry has become totally irrelevant. It has become a cost to the country becomes it contributes nothing in any form or manner. If that Minister of Religious Affairs was anything relevant, she should have been helping this country to fight the scourge of corruption which is the hallmark of PF where she belongs herself. She is not there to judge others, and there is no standard or rule or law that gives anybody a regulatory framework on how to donate to people who are challenged. She is sitting in a government that is broke; no wonder other people with goodwill are contributing because they are failing to meet people’s needs. So she must not be a hypocrite using government offices while chewing the tax payer’s money. She’s not morally upright to judge others in a moral way. She’s as guilty as sinner that is this world,” said Changala.

“So let people donate freely without being given a label. What she has done is totally unacceptable and it must be treated as personal. She cannot go on injuring others. They have been chasing people, they chased Zodwa in the name of morality, what morality is in PF? She is sitting in government full of vandals. So is Freemason an illegal organisation? Is Freemason a devil’s workshop? Sumaili must be told, people are suffering and they don’t care where a donation is coming from as long as that donation is delivered and given with good intent. And she’s not the barometer for moral standing in this country; if anything, she’s part of the moral challenges that we face in our Republic.”