Christians And Corruption

I REFER to the editorial piece by Gwen Lister on 21 October.I really could not agree more.

It is extremely inappropriate for senior politicians to be prevaricating on the issue of corruption. Africa in general has a very poor reputation for tackling the issue of corruption and this prevarication will be interpreted as just another tired and corrupt tinpot African democracy making excuses before it heads off towards dictatorship.The Christian position on corruption, fraud, theft, nepotism and the like is that it must not be tolerated and those found guilty of doing any of these things must be punished.The Christian view is a rule-based view and is where the idea of the rule of law originated.Most Namibians identify themselves with Christianity and the Christian ethos.It really is about time that some of the leaders in this country took a morally courageous stand for what is right.But to be perfectly honest I’m not going to hold my breath because I suspect that some of our senior politicians are not honourable Christian men, they are party-political hacks who would sell their own mothers rather than expose the corrupt within their ranks.It is a shame that the words ‘democracy’ and ‘law’ and ‘justice’ and ‘morality’ seem to have such a narrow interpretation among Swapo members.I wonder if our friends in high places would change their tune if a white non-Swapo member of parliament was found to be corrupt.Would they then all of a sudden regain their perspective? Andrew Wright Via e-mailAfrica in general has a very poor reputation for tackling the issue of corruption and this prevarication will be interpreted as just another tired and corrupt tinpot African democracy making excuses before it heads off towards dictatorship.The Christian position on corruption, fraud, theft, nepotism and the like is that it must not be tolerated and those found guilty of doing any of these things must be punished.The Christian view is a rule-based view and is where the idea of the rule of law originated.Most Namibians identify themselves with Christianity and the Christian ethos.It really is about time that some of the leaders in this country took a morally courageous stand for what is right.But to be perfectly honest I’m not going to hold my breath because I suspect that some of our senior politicians are not honourable Christian men, they are party-political hacks who would sell their own mothers rather than expose the corrupt within their ranks.It is a shame that the words ‘democracy’ and ‘law’ and ‘justice’ and ‘morality’ seem to have such a narrow interpretation among Swapo members.I wonder if our friends in high places would change their tune if a white non-Swapo member of parliament was found to be corrupt.Would they then all of a sudden regain their perspective? Andrew Wright Via e-mail