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NewsDay

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Rampant corruption appalls church leaders

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There is need for strengthened co-operation between churches and the Auditor-General’s Office to curb corruption that has become endemic in State institutions, church leaders have said.

There is need for strengthened co-operation between churches and the Auditor-General’s Office to curb corruption that has become endemic in State institutions, church leaders have said.

BY PHYLLIS MBANJE

The call was made after the churches, under the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD), met with the Auditor-General (AG)’s Office last week to deliberate on findings of audit reports that exposed corruption in State institutions.

ZHOCD brings together church leaders from the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Union for the Development of Apostolic Churches in Zimbabwe. The meeting came after AG Mildred Chiri last month released audit reports that showed the deterioration of corporate governance at State institutions.

In a statement ZHOCD said: “Stewards are failing to deliver as they concentrate on looting.”

Describing the levels of looting as frightening, the church leaders said morals were compromised by greed and this was exacerbated by the harsh economic situation prevailing in the country.

“Citizens need to hold policymakers accountable. More important is the need for spiritual conviction and healing.”

As part of the recommendations, the churches proposed sensitisation of the findings of the Chiri reports and questioning of high level policymakers during engagements on the implementation of the audit report.

When the 2018 Audit report was tabled, Chiri said governance issues continued to plague the organisations.

“…they (governance issues) constituted 80% of my total findings, although there was a marginal decrease of 16% from 2017. Most governance issues centred on absence of good stewardship over public resources,” she remarked.