COUNCIL of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) secretary general Fr Emmanuel Chikoya says it is time Zambians moved on from the failed Bill 10 and transition into 2021 as a unified and peaceful country.

And Fr Chikoya says people should draw lessons from the failure of Bill 10 that not everybody is available for sale and not everything can be fixed using money.

In an interview, Fr Chikoya said it was time to move on from Bill 10 and urged the country to transition by being united and peaceful.

“At the moment, we need to transition into 2021 as a unified country, peaceful. And so, let them just cool down, calm down and stop operating from the position of bitterness. We are a Christian nation and they are in the seat and they are the ones actually trying to champion that agenda. So, let them demonstrate the love for each other, the respect for one another and also learning to agree to disagree and still being able to co-exist,” Fr Chikoya said. “So, we condemn every aspect of any threats of whatever form, unleashing the security agencies on the opposition. It’s not going to win them anything. They may temporarily cause discomfort to others. But they will surely reap what they sow one day. It’s time to move on. It is not time for bitterness or threats and all those things. We are fed up of those. We need to stabilize.”

He said consensus building had a greater bearing on the results for anything.

“The biggest lesson is that it is critical to fully engage and consult no matter how long it takes. We must be good listeners, avoid being arrogant [because] money cannot buy everything. You can do only so much by utilizing the blessing of being in leadership and use it for the good of all. And exercise stewardship instead of just bull dozing everything and everyone. I think those are the lessons that not everybody is available for sale and not everything can be fixed using money. Consensus building, the process has a greater bearing on the outcome and it increases or decreases ownership in a comprehensive manner,” Fr Chikoya said.

He said the failure to pass the Bill should not mean fixing the opposition because it was the economy that needed more fixing.

“At the end of the day, it’s important to avoid wasting resources by doing the right things and every day. If they are going to go into that direction [to fix the opposition for not supporting Bill 10], then they have failed to learn the lesson. The tough lesson is that let us be humble. If there is anything to fix, fix the economy, the leakage in terms of corruption, and stop the leakages in terms of procurement and all those things. That is what needs to be fixed. They will be wasting time if they want to go after people in a crusade of fixing them because even if they fix them, they will not gain anything. They will create more acrimony in the country,” said Fr Chikoya.