Bishop Questions ZRA Church Audit

Lusaka clergyman Bishop Simon Chihana has questioned the decision by the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) to audit the church, saying the move should be subject to serious scrutiny. 

“The current position taken by the Zambia Revenue Authority, ZRA, cannot go without comment and taking serious analysis because it borders on a body that all of us as Zambians have great attachment to and this is the Church,” he said.

Bishop Chihana is the president of the International Fellowship for Christian Churches and has called attention to the ZRA’s decision to audit the church at a time when Zambia is suffering from record levels of poverty and unemployment. 

He noted that the Church in Zambia has long played an important role in alleviating poverty and providing social care in the country. 

“The Church has from time immemorial helped governments in bringing quality education to every one of us, quality medical care through mission hospitals and clinics. The Church is not a social club, but an organism through which God works to minister to the needs of humanity both spiritually, physically, and socially,” he said.

Bishop Chihana reminded the ZRA that many of Zambia’s social ills cannot be redressed by government alone, no matter how well funded it is.

“The Church is working day and night doing the job of reconciling families, helping the rejected, run away husbands and wives to resolve, run away children and parents to come together,” he said.

He therefore argued that it was unwise to ‘punish’ the Church at a time of need for Zambia, adding that the institution was wholly funded by the generosity of congregants and well-wishers.

‘“With all sanity of the mind, how do you as government under Zambia Revenue Authority audit a body that totally depends on free will offerings from the generous people. The next government must work in partnership with the Church and support them in all their efforts in making sure that they give our children quality education and provide quality health care to our people in the communities, strengthen their evangelistic thrust in the communities,” the bishop said.