‘Greed responsible for MPs debts’
The Rev John Ssenyonyi delivers a sermon in Namugongo earlier this year. PHOTO by Abubaker Lubowa.
What you need to know:
The Uganda Christian University VC has advised Ugandans to shun unnecessary property.
Kampala
An insatiable appetite for material wealth is pushing Member of Parliament and Ugandans to take loans that they can’t pay back, Dr John Senyonyi, the Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University has said.
The cleric who was delivering a sermon at All Saints Church, Nakasero, Kampala on Sunday said it is amazing how much people spend trying to gain the world. “You have probably been reading about what has been termed as the ‘MP debt crisis’ and today I grabbed my Sunday newspaper copy and there was an MP trying to justify that. To me this is what I call rubbish. I don’t understand a leader who doesn’t know that a loan is going to be paid back, why should you be in Parliament if you don’t realize it?”
Dr Ssenyonyi said it is because of the unfettered appetites that people take loans that they can’t pay back and the argument that they should be trained in financial literacy does not merit.
“I would not be surprised if actually those who have taken the loans are professional accountants and lawyers. I know for sure that these are people not ignorant in managing finances the problem is the appetite for money and they borrow without thinking about what is going to happen because they believe that you the tax payer are somehow going to bail them out.”
Shs166 billion in bribes too little
Quoting a new report tracking corruption trends by the Inspectorate of Government, which stated that Ugandans where offered Shs166 billion in bribes last year, Dr Senyonyi said that it is an underestimation.
“So Shs 166b is lost annually, money that can do a lot good for our nation, I suppose that this is an underestimation because when you consider Mukono-Katosi road alone it is much more than that.” He said that the Inspectorate’s report was talking about the small bribes given to people like police officers.
Materialism
“I see Ugandans buying Hummers (Humvee vehicles), I don’t know what kind of foolishness that is, a hummer in Uganda driven through our potholes and we start thinking that these are the things that matter in our lives.”
He advised the brethren to shun unnecessary property in what he termed as a spirit of acquisition because the more they get, the more they want noting that the material wealth that they seek won’t change anything in their life.
“The principle of acquisition breeds acquisition, when you set your heart to gain the world, you never stop and you will constantly want to gain more and greed leads you from one thing to the next and the more you have the more you will spend to protect it.”
Dr Senyonyi who based much of his sermon on media reports said that he was disturbed by individuals with Christian names who are stealing and committing all manner of crimes.
