WEEKLY PERSPECTIVE | Careful, Your Grace
His Grace, Most Rev. Alick Banda, Archbishop of Lusaka in Zambia, spent the night of September 28 in the cell of Chimbokaila Prison of Lusaka Central Correctional Facility.
Why does a bishop wake up in prison on the feast of the archangels?
It is not that difficult to understand. Lusaka is in Zambia; Zambia is in Africa; modern Africa is becoming a continent where almost anything and everything can happen
It is a continent where in the midst of immense natural resources, citizens, institutions, organisations, religious bodies look up to governments for protection, for support, for assistance, for favours.
Everyone prays for the grace of God; and the pleasure of governments. Because governments, not the state, is the dispenser of justice; the grantor of convenience to supporters and inconvenience to opponents.
Supporters can do no wrong. Opponents have their rights taken away as they are regarded as enemies. Enemies of not just the ruling party, but enemies of the government, and enemies of the state.
The line between the whims of rulers and the instruments of governance are blurred. State apparatus are deployed to cause pain to opponents. A Nigerian political loudmouth says it best, “As e dey pain them; na so e dey sweet us”. Their pain is our pleasure.
Many choose the easy path of seeing no evil, saying no evil. They leave politicians to run the government; and bishops rule the vineyard of the Lord.
However, ills of the society, excesses of the government and the sufferings of the people all rise to levels that are impossible to ignore for persons of conscience. Archbishop Alick Banda chose the difficult path of saying truth to the power of the tyrant because he could not be silent in the face of cruel indifference to the sufferings of citizens.
Political supporters have their sins forgiven, their slate of offences wiped clean. On the other hand, opponents have the records dug up; past ‘misdeeds’ are unearthed and primed for punishment.
That is the model applied to Archbishop Banda. The case against the archbishop relates to a Toyota Hilux truck gifted to him by former President of Zambia, Edgar Lungu sometime in 2021.
Archbishop Banda had use of the vehicle between 22 April 2021 and 27 December 2023 when he surrendered it to the state.
The August 2026 presidential elections in Zambia were declared in favour of incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND), defeating a dozen other candidates. Brian Mundubile of the coalition National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity (NRPUP) gave the president the hardest electoral fight. Votes were still being counted when Mundubile was arrested among others.
A former minister Mutate Kafwaya was shot dead. A crackdown on perceived opposition figures started. That is the tense situation when the subsisting case of Archbishop Banda came up.
It was an opportunity to show everyone who was in church, and by how much. What better way to demonstrate a show of force than to jail a Catholic Archbishop!
Archbishop Banda kept a court date on 28 September and was granted bail with stiff conditions which were not met before the close of work on that day. His Grace had to keep the night in jail.
Government spokesperson says the Man of God was answering to legitimate concerns of the law. Others believe that Archbishop Banda is facing the consequences of his outspoken criticism of government.
He is labeled a sympathizer of the opposition party. Everyone knows what that means: he is an enemy of the state.
Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB), Malawi Conference of Catholic Bishops (MCCB), Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in East Africa (AMECEA), Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar all have spoken up for Archbishop Banda, expressing solidarity and calling for preservation of the dignity of the process.
The clergy in his diocese of Lusaka have not remained silent. Lusaka Association of the Zambian Diocesan Catholic Clergy (LUSAZADCC) issued a statement of “support and closeness to our shepherd during this difficult period”.
This period is indeed difficult for Archbishop Banda who has to manage the inconvenient mixture of maintaining the dignity of his seat while being painted as a criminal by state agencies, the governance of his diocese and the preparations for legal defence.
It is not difficult to see why His Grace needs all the prayers and all the support that have been pouring in from far and near.
It is not certain, how this unfortunate matter will end. It is unlikely to end well. Lusaka, the seat of Archbishop Banda, is also the capital of the country of Zambia.
The government and the Archbishop may not find cordial accommodation within the same town after one of them has just returned from incarceration by the other.
Someone suggests caution when accepting gifts from politicians.
– Ayo Fasoro
Non Sum Dignus
Article for 11 October 2026