A Micah Challenge report being released this week backs international advocacy efforts to tackle corruption as a key tool in eradicating poverty. The paper, launched on International Anti-Corruption Day (9 December 2010), refers to evidence of corruption impacting negatively on the poor in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and also in Europe.
Development campaigners have been arguing for some time that the practices of Western governments, businesses and agencies also need to come under scrutiny.
Open for Service: A Case for Good Governance urgently appeals for transparency in government, business and the global Christian Church.
It has been produced by Micah Challenge, a predominantly evangelical network seeking to mobilise Christian concern for anti-poverty action.
The document follows discussion between development practitioners, politicians, economists and academics reflecting the views of those living in extreme poverty and proposing solutions to corruption crimes, which could prevent Governments achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
Joel Edwards, the international director of Micah Challenge, commented: “Corruption is a like a tower block on a runway. It accounts for over a trillion dollars going missing, and is a massive barricade to the well being of the poorest people in the world."
He added: "It’s difficult to define, complex in its treatment and entrenched in business and political systems. No wonder it has gone on underground for so long. Simply put, corruption kills people.”
The Rt Rev Dr Benjamin Kwashi, Archbishop of Jos in Central Nigeria, spoke on corruption as a global problem at Africa’s Transformation conference this year: “Compared to corruption in the West, Africa is an apprentice.”
The launch of the paper follows Micah’s10.10.10 campaign during which 60 million Christians in over 70 nations prayed for an end to extreme poverty.
This global event formed part of a growing movement mobilising evangelical churches to play a greater part in alleviating poverty.
http://www.micahchallenge.org/get-involved/good-governance
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