Religious leaders urged to preach against corruption

Tamale, March 24, GNA - The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), local chapter of Transparency International, has called on religious leaders in the country to preach against corruption. Gilbert Sam, Senior Programmes Officer of GII, made the call, also commended religious bodies for contributing to the development of education and health and the promotion of peace and good governance. He was speaking at a two-day ethics workshop on the theme: "Zero tolerance against corruption campaign, the role of religious bodies in Ghana", for religious leaders in the Tamale Municipality, in Tamale on Monday.

The participants were dawn from the Christian Council of Ghana, the Ahmadyya Muslim Mission, the National Catholic Secretariat, Orthodox churches and some Muslim clerics.

It was aimed at educating participants on how to fight corruption through education of religious congregations. Mr. Sam said Ghanaians were religious and appreciated the contributions of religious leaders as role models and counsellors. He commended the collaboration between GII and religious bodies in the fight against corruption and appealed to government to have the political will to expose and punish corrupt officials to serve as a deterrent to others.

Alhaji Al-hussein Zakaria, chairman of the Northern Region Inter-Religious Dialogue Committee, observed that corruption existed in all spheres of public life. He expressed worry that some media outlets were finding it difficult to fight corruption because they were supporting some state apparatus.

He observed that corruption was the main cause of poverty and underdevelopment in society and asked religious leaders to support the fight against the canker.