Enhancing voter education on the pulpit
As Malawi gears up for the first ever Tripartite Elections next year, religious leaders are using the pulpit to drive messages on the elections to their members. In this chat, our reporter WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR wonders if this will not compromise the neutrality of faith leaders on politics. He engages Pastor Saini Mbendera of the Malawi Assemblies of God Church in Balaka—Liwawadzi Congregation—into a discussion.
We are five months away before the 2014 Tripartite Elections. How do you assess the role of faith leaders in sensitising the faithful on these elections?
Our major role has been to encourage our members to participate in the electoral processes. Maybe I should remind you that there are people in this country who think that queuing on the line to cast their ballots is a waste of time. They have their own reasons for that! But as church leaders, we always emphasise that all leaders are commissioned by God through the people. Therefore, if people stay away from elections, it means they are delegating responsibilities God gave them to other people.
Considering that Malawi has over 50 political parties, how do you craft your messages to ensure that you are not seen to be sympathetic towards a certain candidate?
The Bible is always our reference point. We also advise eligible voters to choose selfless leaders in line with Exodus 18:21, which says: “But you yourself should select out of all the people capable men, fearing God, trustworthy men, hating unjust profit; and you must set these over them as chiefs over thousands, chiefs over hundreds, chiefs over fifties and chiefs over tens.”
Your congregation is currently going through financial difficulties to finish construction of Liwawadzi Miracle Church. If a politician offers to assist you on condition that you will support his or her candidacy, what will you do?
If a politician offers to support us, we will gladly accept the assistance because we are fully aware that our members hold diverse political views. Thus, it is not up to me as a pastor to force the faithful to vote for a candidate of my choice. Again, let me take this opportunity to condemn politicians who go about giving assistance to bereaved families in the form of coffins. This is a very bad practice. The best time to assist a needy person is when he or she is still alive. Any assistance given to someone in sorrow does not make a difference to the beneficiaries. In fact, it only shows that politician is a sadist—who takes pleasure in seeing other people suffering so that he can lord it over them.
Does the Bible say anything regarding the best practices of politics?
The Bible is very clear about politics. It has to serve the interests of God and his people. If our politicians do not serve the interests of God, we are a doomed country. I will give you an example of former president of Ivory Coast—Hufe Bwanye—who singlehandedly constructed a church equivalent to St. Peter’s Square in Italy. The idea was to guide his people to God. Malawians don’t need to double or triple the number of police stations or prisons. No! What we need is salvation from sin. People who have been saved from sin cannot commit crimes or cause lawlessness to warrant arrests and imprisonment.
So, what you are telling me is that crime and lawlessness are a result of our failure to live by God’s will?
Exactly! If our leaders feared God, Malawi could have been a better country to live in. Malawi needs leaders that are saved and commissioned to serve the people. Not backslidden believers leading this nation! The cashgate scam in our midst simply proves that our leaders are not saved. They are there not to serve God and his people, but to make unjust profit.
You have been appealing to the public to help in finishing the construction of your Liwawadzi Miracle Church. Should we say you did not plan for it?
I found the plan in place when I came to succeed a previous pastor. It was a good plan, but was later abandoned because the members could not afford the costs. They had the zeal to build the house of the Lord, but were lacking in finances. That is why we extended our invitation to well-wishers to help us finalise the project. If there are people from this area, but currently living in Blantyre, Mangochi, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu, we appeal to them to come and support this project.
