Value for money

Money, from a Christian moral perspective, is not an end in itself. Responsible and accountable spending of a nation’s financial resources must serve the common good and help create equity. That billions have been spent on crime-fighting with little abatement of violent crime means that we are not attending to root causes. Equity is lacking. Education is clearly a factor. Hundreds of young men leave our schools functionally illiterate and are swooped up by the predatory elements of society who introduce them to a life of violent crime.

We can avoid much of this if education is more varied and suited to the needs of each child. This in turn will require teachers who are not only experts in their secular discipline but experts in education as well. They must love teaching and be taught how to bring out the best in each student.

The billions we have spent also seems to have had little effect on the building of character. Part of education is character formation. Too many people with money or who have access to it are people who have passed through the elite educational institutions of this country, most of them denominational, and yet appear to lack a moral conscience.

Money is the name of the game and the more of it the merrier. In fact, research in different parts of the world is showing a disturbing trend: religion is not shaping values; there is plenty of religiosity but little virtue.

Denominational schools are therefore, faced with a big challenge: how do we move from a knowledge- based society to a virtue-driven one? A society driven by virtue would not have reacted so negatively to Archbishop’s Harris’ request for presidential pardon for certain types of prisoners.

This request is not incognisant of the pain of victims nor does it remove from potential beneficiaries the demand of restitution. It is one based on compassion at a time when the national arteries of compassion are showing signs of sclerosis. The mercy we meet out today maybe ours tomorrow.

Another area in which our billions haven’t had much impact is the environment. We need green spaces. The Bible places our origin in green space.

Our educational institutions require green spaces since too many of them look like concrete jungles; urban planning must take green space into consideration.

We need to heed our environmentalists; they are not pests but necessary guardians of the ecosystem and, ultimately, our well-being.

As we celebrate this year’s Independence in the economic doldrums, may it be an opportunity for us to reflect on the proper use of money and its destination for the common good.