WESTERN PROVINCE

KARONGI — The Minister of Health, Dr. Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo has castigated religious leaders in the country for what he called playing a dormant role in supporting government policies.

He said religious leaders have also neglected and at times deliberately swayed their followers away from the government’s poverty eradication plans.

Dr. Ntawukuriryayo made the remarks on Monday while speaking at the World Tuberculosis Day at Gatwaro stadium, in Karongi district.

He lashed out at the men of God shortly after ETO Kibuye students had presented a drama in which one actor, posing as an old man chose to take his son to a witch doctor after coughing for more than three weeks.

After watching the play, the minister noted that such incidents were common in the country and he wondered what religious leaders were doing yet they were supposed to spiritually guide their flock.

"When the government talks about family planning, many religious leaders tell their followers it’s against God’s teaching," he said.

He observed that religious leaders always backup their teachings with the quotation that the Bible orders people to fill the earth and multiply, but deliberately omit the verse which says that he who doesn’t work shall not eat.

The minister, who claimed to be a devoted Catholic, explained that in Rome where the Pope seats people had developed simply because they adopted family planning.

"How come Catholics just next door to the Pope in Rome have two or one kid?" he asked.

For long, people have been getting infected with HIV/AIDS. When the government speaks of condom use, religious leaders regard it a sin, they preach abstinence which isn’t bad; but in case of failure they should as well consider condom use as an option, he said.

He challenged people to consider the high percentage of unmarried Rwandans, saying the government can’t force them to marry, yet they can not all abstain from sex. So what would be the way forward in case condoms are not used, he asked.

Drawing an example from a man he found admitted at Kibuye Hospital; the minister urged religious leaders to play their roles in delivering their followers from poverty.

"This 35 year-old man is suffering from Kwashiorkor along with his four kids and wife. Why would you want to lead people in such a state?" he asked. He noted that such people can not care much about Christ when they have immediate problems that need to be solved.

"When the government asks for Frw1000 for mutuelle de sante (health insurance for the patients), you don’t tell our Christians; yet when it comes to offertory, you tell them," the minister castigated religious leaders urging them to collaborate with local leaders in guiding the masses.

Scores of religious leaders who talked to The New Times after the ceremony described the minister’s remarks as constructive criticism.

"If we religious leaders would positively campaign for government projects to our followers, it would efficiently work because villagers listen to us more than any other leaders," one said.

"About HIV/AIDS, if we had earlier advocated for condom use, the infection rate would have reduced," said another pastor.

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