GET RICH…

BY THEOPHILUS BRUCE-MILLS

It is common knowledge that quite a number of people living in and around Madina profess to be Muslims yet there exist people of other faiths as well, specifically speaking Christians.

An observation through town revealed imposing posters, sign boards and banners of men of God who seemed larger than life itself .It seems as if they were rather the center of attraction and not the God they were professing.

A crowd of noisy school children marched past waving palm branches and singing to the sound of a female teacher’s drum and this experience took me down memory lane as child having gone through a similar experience. I smiled.

A walk down a part of the market saw a group of people haggling over the price that had been offered over a poor goat which was destined for somebody’s soup, and no amount of bleating could save it. I walked on, but what kept on catching my attention was posters and notices on walls, trees and what have you. They were all over the place and in a nutshell they all pointed to one thing; individuals professing to have powers that could make people rich in no time and what have you.

I thought, the abundance of mosques and churches which had imposing edifices made no difference. God took too long in addressing the issues of life so people found their own way. Besides, pastors in churches were now richer than most people in the church and they wanted a taste of it, whatever it took.

The urge to get rich overnight or find every means possible had led to a situation where people were prepared to do all that it took. The fact that people are engaging in schemes that called for questionable means of acquiring wealth provokes important questions.

My point is, whether they are betting schemes or advertisements for travel and work in the Gulf States, people who subscribed to these schemes often got burnt very badly and may only recover enough. There seems to be a gradual breakdown of the very tenets of society and it has become a situation where you either get the better of someone or they got the better of you.

A personal observation gives me the impression that this country is fast loosing its vigour and vitality to these questionable means of wealth acquisition.

Freedom of religion exists, but there is also the need for a concerted effort to sanitize the system.

Any suggestions?