26 Feb 2019

Faith based organisations have been urged to help fight corruption.

The appeal was made by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) anti-corruption officer, Ms Gaolatlhelelwe Kebalepile who stated that faith based organisations leaders use the pulpit not only to spread the gospel, but also share anti-corruption messages with their congregants.

Officiating at a capacity building workshop on anti-corruption for faith-based organisations recently, Ms Kebalepile said corruption was a monster,  hence eliminating it needed all stakeholders on board.

The target, she said, was to achieve zero tolerance on corruption.

She said greed, lack of accountability and morals drove people to commit corrupt acts.

Ms Kebalepile stated that religion was among factors that influenced one’s ethics and appealed to faith based organisations to guide members towards upholding good behaviour.

Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana president, Reverend Jobe Koosimile appreciated the workshop and encouraged churches to desist from illegal practices likely to be deemed as corrupt.

He said the house of the Lord must resist temptations such as money laundering.

Rev. Koosimile said the church must abide by the Book and mould law abiding citizens.

Senior anti-corruption officer, Mr Thatayaone Sesinyi urged faith based organisations to be alert as they were likely to be used as a route to cleanse money obtained through illegal practices.

Mr Sesinyi said some organisations engaged in illegal dealings were also likely to register as churches as a cover up,  adding that others would donate to churches funds obtained illegally.

He advised leaders to thoroughly investigate their sources of funding to avoid being caught up in messy situations.

“Avoid cash donations, rather prefer a cheque or a bank deposit as there will be paper trail to assist with the investigations whenever there is doubt,” he said.

The objective of the workshop was to raise awareness and familiarise faith based institutions with concepts of corruption and subsequent consequences, identifying common corrupt practices likely to affect the church as well as opportunities within the church system that may facilitate corruption and economic crime. ENDS