Road Accidents: Zambia Prays Again?

Posted by African Examiner Articles/Opinion, Featured Contributors/Columnists, Latest Headlines Saturday, April 16th, 2016

Leo Igwe

BALTIMORE, MD (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – What’s really going on in Zambia? What is this prayer thing all about? I mean, what has come over President Lungu and his government. It seems prayer is the ‘solution’ to every problem this country is facing. Is this due to lack of political ideas or vision? This prayer business in Zambia is really getting too much. Prayer is becoming the political order of the day in Zambia. The last time Zambia made international headlines, President Lungu was leading a national day of prayer. He mobilized Zambians to pray to God to intervene and save the Kwacha. There is still no report on how God answered the prayer to save the ‘ailing’ Kwacha. And now another national prayer program is underway to stop road accidents. This time, it is the Presidential Prayer Team (PPT) is leading the exercise.Uhm What a name? Presidential Prayer Team!

PPT is praying against road traffic accidents. The team has already conducted prayers along the highway between Lusaka and Kapiri Mposhi and plans to take the prayer to other highways. I suggest that the PPT pauses for a moment, test and be sure that their prayer has effectively stopped road accidents in one highway before conducting the prayer anywhere else. The state house chaplain is leading this prayer team and officials of the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) are part of the prayer warriors. Their goal is to ‘anoint the Zambian roads’ so that they would be safe from accidents. What does anointing the Zambia roads mean? The PPT claims that the anointing will cause God to intervene and stop road traffic accidents. Really? How?

I mean this is a waste of time, energy and national capital. The time that is being devoted to talking to an imaginary being should have been put to a better and more effective use by getting the PPT to help in enforcing traffic regulations along the highways. Who told Zambians that there is a God in the first place? Who told Zambians that there is a God who cares for them and their highways? Who told Zambians that there is a God waiting for their prayers before intervening to stop road traffic accidents? Is it not absurd and embarrassing that officers of the RTSA are involved in this useless scheme? Just imagine road safety officials praying along the highways where they are supposed to be enforcing traffic rules? Is that what they were trained, employed and paid to do? What if a vehicle accidentally knocks them down while praying along the highway?

If prayer is what is needed to stop road traffic accidents, then RTSA should be disbanded and all the officers sacked. I mean there is no need to have such an agency in the first place. This prayer-nonsense must stop. Zambians should wake up from their slumber and starting thinking, start generating effective ideas and start working hard to fix the problems that face their nation. President Lungu should stop wasting the limited resources of Zambia on useless prayer schemes that do not benefit the people of Zambia in any way. Lungu should turn all the praying hands into helping hands for the good of Zambia. There is no God to intervene and save the Kwacha. There is no God to intervene and cause the rain to fall. There is no God to stop road traffic accidents along the highways. Wake up Zambians!