FORMER religious affairs minister Godfridah Sumaili has urged the UPND government to have some balance as they fight corruption, saying it’s not proper for them to only focus on activities which transpired many years ago.
And Sumaili has lamented that the church is too quiet when it is supposed to speak out on the current abuse of people in the country.
In an interview, Rev Sumaili said the UPND government had not done anything about the single sourced fertiliser which was procured at an exorbitant price.
“The fight against corruption has to be systematic. There has to be justice involved in this and there has to be balance. There has to be some consistency as you fight corruption. As a Christian nation, we are resolved to make sure that there is no corruption anywhere. This government has to have justice in the way they fight it. I do not think that it is proper for them to be concentrating only on the allegations of corruption of many years ago when today people have raised issues on a number of things that have happened which are of suspicions,” she said.
“We are talking about the issue of fertiliser, what have they done about it. Fertiliser was single sourced at an exorbitant price. What has this government done about it? We want to see justice, balance and consistency. They have to be honest about corruption. Corruption is not only when you take something but even through your words you can corrupt the minds of people and cheat them. They can be deceived in the way that you are communicating to the people. If you are speaking things that you know you shall not do, that is corruption. If you say mealie meal will be K50 but you know in your own heart that it is not possible. that is corruption. So we want to see consistency.”
Rev Sumaili said the church should rise and ensure that governance was founded on righteousness and justice.
“And to the church, I want to say that the church is mandated to ensure that there is social justice in the nation. They have to ensure that there is integrity in the way governance is done so they should have a voice. Let the church arise. The church is too quiet. Things are happening, there is abuse of people, people are being arrested without being charged. They are being kept in cells without being charged but the church is quiet. The church also has to be consistent. They have the mandate to ensure that governance is founded on righteousness and justice,” said Rev Sumaili.