Govt’s ‘poor approach’ to social problems worries Bishop Mambo

Govt’s ‘poor approach’ to social problems worries Bishop Mambo
By Ernest Chanda
Sun 18 Apr. 2010, 03:40 CAT

BISHOP John Mambo has expressed sadness with what he termed government’s poor approach to social problems in the country.

In an interview, Bishop Mambo who is also Chikondi Foundation president said it was disheartening that the country had lost direction in terms of social and economic recovery.

“I’m not happy with the situation in the country where we have lived under 35 years of poverty. Everything seems to have been abandoned; we’ve lost a sense of hope in any social or economic recovery. And I think these should be critical issues among those competing in the 2011 elections,” Bishop Mambo said.

“Our roads are terrible, schools and hospitals are not properly serviced.

Yet we have a government in office whose preoccupation seems to be self-preservation and settling scores with their opponents. I think we should blame ourselves because we’ve given permanent jobs to politicians who can’t reason anymore.”

Bishop Mambo said the pronouncements made by politicians in the country did not inspire people in any way.

“Our leaders in government make specific pronouncements only at election time. Right now we are hearing so many pronouncements about working on roads, building schools and all that, just because it’s by-election time. In my view a serious government should make consistent pronouncements that should be supported by action.

That will help inspire citizens’ confidence in them. We have a situation where the rich have become filthy rich and the poor become extremely poor. This is a desperate situation that calls for quick and positive action,” he said.

He wondered what those in authority were doing to create an environment that would provide jobs.

Bishop Mambo observed that every state institution had been crippled to a level where the public had lost confidence in the system.

“Right now, we have an economy that can’t create jobs for our college and university graduates. Our state institutions are paralysed because politics have taken centre stage in everything. Our civil service is demoralised in every sense, and we wonder what is left for us to have confidence in. We can cite so many examples of crippled institutions: the judiciary, parastatals, the executive, and everywhere. This is not healthy for a normal society!” Bishop Mambo lamented.

“Our civil service operates at 30 per cent because there is nothing to motivate them. And now we have also messed up our constitution making process. The NCC National Constitutional Conference is saying that giving people a right to food and water is a joke. Now, if you have a situation where you don’t hope for anything, what do you do? I hope that the voters will reflect on this and do the right thing when it comes to voting next year.”