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“We need to reclaim the prophetic voice of the Church to actively carry out its contribution in helping stem the tide of apathy and hopeless in our country’s political sphere,” says Anglican Church of Melanesia Archbishop David Vunagi .
He was speaking at the opening of a three day church conference on Rethinking the Household of God in Honiara, Solomon Islands.
Vunagi said corruption had left a paralysing impact on the ability of people to trust.
“In our country, the Solomon Islands, it is unfortunate that corruption has taken precedent over general orders, the normal administrative procedures and to say the least there are elements of corruption even in our political system so we do know how to trust.”
Coupled with corruption, Vunagi lamented the ecological damages that was plaguing the Solomon Islands and challenged church leaders to exercise their duty to speak to the destructive impacts of irresponsible development practices and policies promoted by government.
During a working group session, church representatives identified a host of problems that beset the Solomon Islands political leadership.
Some of the problems they named were: self-centred individual interests, lack of transparency, nepotism, non-inclusive decision making processes and little regard or attention to the rule of law.
Church leaders and participants agreed that there was a ‘crisis of leadership’, and in particular a ‘crisis of honesty’ in the Solomon Islands.
Vunagi said, “Moral and ethical values that should guide us as a nation is no more.”
“Churches are well placed to contribute substantially to Solomon Islands’ socio-economic conditions. However, we need to have greater say in the types of economic empowerment programmes created for this end and therefore stand ready to assist in helping to create durable-solutions that affects the lives of our people.”
The conference which was co-organised by the Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACOM) and the Pacific Conference of Churches ended on Wednesday June 4.
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