Unless the habit of telling lies stops, society risks being a generation of insincere people, expert in telling lies, criminals and therefore difficult to trust.

The fact that both lying and stealing are acts of dishonesty, a liar is also a thief, not yet caught. This is because both acts are driven by the same spirit of dishonesty.

Also the fact that lying and stealing are crimes, liars too are criminals though not yet caught or prosecuted. Therefore dealing with them is dealing with criminals. So is being neighbours to them or befriending them. It is time to start looking at them so and as far as possible, help them to rid themselves of the social ill.

It is common to hear in offices, public and private transport, someone telling another on phone that he is in Nyagatare when actually he is in Kigali or Butare. It is also common for a mechanic repairing someone’s car, to tell his customer on phone that he has finished working on it when actually he has not or started doing anything at all on it.

The moment he sees the owner coming, he may start working on it pretending to have discovered another problem he must fix to put the car in good condition. For which reason, the car owner is unnecessarily forced to waste more time waiting, including postponing an important journey he would have made with the car. The same habit is found in tailors, cobblers and carpenters.

Likewise, it is common to hear a nurse, in hospital, who has forgotten administering a prescribed medicine to a seriously sick patient, lying to the doctor that she has done so thus risking the patient’s life, should the doctor decide to administer personally an alternative drug with higher dosage to contain the seemingly worsening situation.

In the worse case scenario, the doctor may inadvertently operate on the patient to arrest the situation when actually he should have not. In the process, the patient may die. The nurse, in this case, does not care about of the patient’s life. She does not even care what she will tell God one day, should the patient die.

The same social ill may cause someone to lie on phone to his stranded relative abroad that he is at that moment at a Western Union outlet sending him money when actually he is somewhere else doing other things.

He will then switch off his phone to avoid being contacted and open it several hours later after he has sent the money. When he finally speaks to the relative, he will lie to him that his phone had no charge and that the delay to send the money was caused by a temporary break down of the Western Union communication lines.

It is also common for someone to tell you that he will do something when he knows that he will not do it. As a result, you are unnecessarily and falsely kept hoping instead of being told the truth, to enable you look for alternative means or improvise. Doing so is also a sign of lack of decency on the part of such person, especially when he tells you late, at the last minute.

Rich, poor, educated and uneducated alike, society is unbothered telling each other lies in homes and workplaces, as a normal thing. Bosses are lying to their juniors with impunity to the extent of promising them promotions and salary increases which they know are not there. Juniors too are lying to their bosses in other various ways and getting away with it.

Some bosses dare ask their Secretaries or Receptionists to deceive visitors who come to see them on certain days during certain times that they are not there when actually they are there.

Whenever some parents, want to rest undisturbed in their homes, they too dare  ask their children to lie to visitors that they are not there when actually they are there sleeping. Doing so, helps breed a generation of liars thus worsening the society’s moral decay. Imagine a home of liars, a village of liars or a workplace of liars!

Those of you who are Christians know that the scripture admonishes us to let our "Yes” be "Yes” and our "No” be "No”. We should tell people the truth and nothing but the truth even if that truth hurts (John 8:32). We are also cautioned to know how telling lies reduces the number of days a person is supposed to live here on earth (Psalm 34:12-13). Yet people do not care. Instead they blame God for not doing His job of making them live long.

The scripture also wonders why a person should risk his soul being destroyed because of using dishonest means to acquire material things (Mark 8:36, Luke 9:25). It also warns how dishonest money will not benefit anyone (Proverbs 13:11) and how God disapproves dishonest trading (Micah 6:8, Ezekiel 28:18, Amos 8:5).

As a country currently blessed with a corrupt free and highly disciplined political leadership, Rwandans should match it with a deliberate effort of distinguishing themselves in Africa and the world at large, as also a honest and truth telling people.
 
dalemuta@yahoo.co.uk