Leader of the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church, Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, has lauded Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera’s leadership.
Bushiri who persistently complained about the treatment he received in the previous administration of President Peter Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), says Chakwera is a listening president.
Prophet Bushiri made the remarks following government’s decision to revise the country’s Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) guidelines that restricted public gathering only to 10 people.
The initial guidelines gazetted last week were met with a public outcry from religious leaders and organisations led by another pastor, Bishop Yohane Tembo of Christ Alive Family Church (CAFC).
Yohane had challenged government to arrest him as he promised to continue with services at his church. The Roman Catholic Church and the General Synod of Livingistonia, Nkhoma and Blantyre Synods also raised their concern.
Following the outcry, Chakwera through the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 revised the guidelines to allow public gatherings of up to 100 people.
A statement issued by the ECG church in Malawi today welcomed the decision which the church says paints Chakwera as a listening leader.
“By moving swiftly to give the concerns an ear and, again, making adjustments accordingly, we find President Chakwera to be a listening leader and his decisions immensely progressive as it signifies the spirit of making every voice matter,” the ECG Church in Malawi said in a statement that has been signed by spokesperson, Ephraim Nyondo.
The church said: “The battle against COVID-19 can only be won through a multi-sectoral approach [that] President Chakwera’s government has demonstrated”.
The ECG church added that it “will continue to be a church on the frontlines of containing COVID-19 by ensuring that all our branches restrict gathering to 100 people and [that] implementation of wearing face masks, hand sanitizing and observing social distance” will be intensified.
As of today, Malawi has officially recorded 4912 cases of Covid-19 which has killed 153 people in the country. People who have recovered are 2550 with 2209 being active cases.
Globally, close to 21 million cases have been confirmed and about 760 thousand people have died of the novel conoravirus disease which is yet to have a vaccine.
