TRUSTWORTHY CHURCH A MUST, SAYS STATE

By ROGERS KALERO THE Church has a responsibility of ensuring that initiatives such as the empowerment schemes are successful and further prove that it is a trustworthy conduit for improvement of lives in communities, National Guidance and Religious Affairs Permanent Secretary Howard Sikwela has said. Reverend Sikwela said the empowerment schemes demanded responsibility on the side of the beneficiaries, who should that the revolving fund was sustainable. He was speaking at the weekend in Kitwe where he gave out 78 offer letters to cooperatives from various churches. He said the church should continue to gain and hold the confidence of various stakeholders by using prudently the Covid-19 church empowerment fund. “The church has a responsibility to see to it that the success of such an initiative serves as a model for other empowerment initiatives and further prove that the church was a trustworthy conduit for community change in the country. “The empowerment scheme demands for responsibility on the beneficiaries by ensuring that the revolving funds were sustainable and accrue benefits for the intended beneficiaries,” Rev Sikwela said. Rev Sikwela said the church must prove that it was different by exhibiting integrity and ethics in the use of the funds to avoid losing confidence of Government and other stakeholders “Even myself as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, i would not like to   appear before the public accounts committee over the misappropriation of funds. We came up with this initiative to empower churches and faith-based organizations because of the adverse effects of Covid-19 “This is why today we are in Kitwe handing over 78 offer letters to cooperatives. I call for prudence in the use of these funds that will be accessed,” he said. Government, he said, would want to see churches that were self-sustaining. “The church was a mirror of morality in the nation therefore it should be an example to those that had not yet benefited using the resources prudently,” he said And Copperbelt Permanent Secretary Bright Nundwe said he was impressed that the church had remained united and had always prayed for peace and unity “As the provincial administration, we are impressed that at no time that we have received reports of disunity among the churches. This is a good spirit and it should continue,” Mr Nundwe said