I found the follwong article very ressourceful. It could present a good african read especially for believers and men in the cloth from Africa or the supporting overseas missions.

Those where partly equally corrupt and/or fostered corruption in the churches and in Africa in general in the recent years.

There are of course impressive exceptions and people who work very had in every religious congregation. It is a pity that some corrupt and powerful despotes in the cloth destroys a lot of lives and assets and increases tensions in the society.

http://www.thisday.co.tz/News/4953.html

Let’s share the national cake fairly

SIMEON MAIGA Dar es Salaam

RECENT events in Tanzania can spell disaster if not wisely dealt with. A toxic mix of students’ strikes, inequality, inflation and growing popular resentment of corruption in public institutions threaten the nation’s stability. Such negative developments have been important factors in popular revolts in many countries around the world. Tanzania is not likely to disintegrate, however, it needs a tough-minded leadership that demonstrably tackles corruption and indiscipline while strengthening its control of the economy and natural resources. The nation is now witnessing some of its leaders being taken to court for abuse of office and embezzlement of public funds. The very people supposed to take the country to glory are the ones plundering the national resources which could accelerate the country’s pace of development. It pains to realize that these few leaders have decided to share the country’s cake among themselves without giving a damn to other wananchi as if the country belongs to them alone. The reminds me of a story our father told us one evening. It was fun then to sit among men around a fire as women and girls were busy cooking dinner in the house. It was a taboo for boys from the Wajita ethnic community to stay in the kitchen where only women were allowed. At such gatherings old men narrated life experiences and told us stories. They recounted how they hunted dangerous animals such as lions and leopards. They also told us about our clan and encouraged us to be brave. One of the many stories that I have not forgotten was about a man who had cautioned his friends to eat carefully when they were hungry. The group had visited a friend in one village and, according to custom, they were warmly welcomed by their host. After exchanging greetings, the host asked his wife whether she had seen them or not. The wife got the message and so did the guests. She hurried to the kitchen to do what was expected of her. In no time she was through. She asked the husband to take the guests into the house. All this time they were sitting outside under a mango tree. With all the courtesy of a lady, she put the food before them. Before leaving, she asked for their understanding because the piece of fish on the plate was very small. As they started eating, one of them reminded the group about their in-law’s last sentence. If really hungry as they had admitted while on the way, then they should concentrate more on ugali rather than the fish. Noting that his plea had fallen on deaf ears, he turned his attention to the fish on the plate. At the end, all were still hungry though they had finished the fish and a big chunk of ugali remained on the plate. They were forced to leave with their half-filled stomachs because of their selfishness. As a people we have come a long way yearning for development in education, infrastructure, health and what-not. One would expect, hungry as we have been for development, we would be very careful in using the national resources for our common benefit. Fortunately, our host, God has been very generous to us. He has endowed our country with everything a human being needs in order to develop. This is the ugali and the piece of fish we need. All we need is to be wise and eat bearing in mind the fact that we are all hungry. It is disheartening that the very people entrusted with authority to oversee fair distribution of the nation’s cake are the ones misbehaving terribly because of their lust to get rich. They don’t understand that wealth is both a friend and an enemy.

If our leaders are there by the will of God, they must fear Him. They should lead according to His wishes not theirs and ensure that justice prevails.