Catholic Bishops in Mozambique Call for Joint Effort in Addressing Insecurity “misfortune”

The Catholic Church leaders say they find it regrettable that the youth who are the hope for a peaceful Mozambique are at the center of the violence that is tearing the country apart.

“We recognize that one of the strong reasons that move our young people to allow themselves to be enticed and to join the various forms of deviance, is based on the experience of the absence of hope for a favorable future,” they lament.

CEM members say that the youth are easily lured into violence because they do not have “opportunities to build a dignified life”, and add, “It's easy to entice people who are full of life and dreams, but without prospects.”

Unless the youth are given guarantees on how to realize their dreams, the Catholic Bishops say that the entire nation will have its “dream of being the protagonist of its future compromised.”

In their collective statement dated November 11, Catholic Bishops in Mozambique also express concern about the high cost of living, which “continues to drag already suffering men and women into extreme poverty, who have been facing true martyrdom to put bread on the table.”

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They attribute the high cost of living to climate change, restrictive measures to prevent COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and what they refer to as “hidden debts”.

CEM members say that social and economic inequalities are contributing to the high cost of living, manifested in “the widening gap” between the rich and the poor.

There is need for “courageous policies to close the widening gap,” they say, and add, “Without the equitable and fair distribution of resources and opportunities, without real social inclusion, our peace and social cohesion will always be threatened. No peace survives exclusions and social injustices.”

The Catholic Church leaders have also identified corruption as another hindrance to the country’s wellbeing, contributing to the challenges the country is facing.

They say, “Despite the efforts and proclamations in the fight against this social plague, a culture of corruption has been established in the country, leading to people thinking that it is normal, that this is how things work; that it can only be like this.”

The members of CEM decry corruption saying that it leads to channeling of public resources to private use, creating a kind of inequality that only favors a few people.

“Corruption manifests itself in the constant ‘kickbacks' (refreshments) that public servants must be paid to receive a service that it is their duty to provide, in the diversion of public funds for private ends and interests, in nepotism and clientele,” they say. 

The Catholic Bishops further say that greed, which they say is a recipe for corruption in the country, has led “to favoring large economic projects by foreign capital, implemented to extract natural resources without the real and transparent involvement of the interested populations.”

"Thousands of families continue to be removed from their fertile lands to make way for these investments, from which they derive virtually no benefit," they say, adding, "Often, in their regions, these communities do not find space to give their opinions, because they are prevented from speaking, through mechanisms of social controls that block their participation."

CEM members say a change of attitudes and a commitment to conversion are necessary for Mozambicans if the highlighted challenges have to be overcome.  

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"We invite everyone to commit to conversion, to changing attitudes, to rejecting any form of radicalism, to overcoming intolerance among the social, tribal, political, economic, religious and racial groups that divide us," they say.

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.