New Religious Movements and Lessons for African Governments
January 17, 2024 |
| Image from BBC |
Good evening beautiful people,
Following the release of BBC Africa's 3-part documentary titled "Disciples: The Cult of TB Joshua", I wrote an opinion piece detailing the relationship between inadequate healthcare, people seeking healing from New Religious Movements (NRM), and why African Governments need to take note of this. The piece did not get a home so I decided to post it here.
Update:
January 25th: A week after posting this piece here, I woke up to a notification that The Star Kenya Newspaper published it. Pitching opinion pieces, following up and waiting is tricky business at times. I am, however, glad that this piece now has two homes. You can read it below or on The Star's Website - Rogue pastors prey on sick as states dither on health policies.
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| Screengrab of my opinion piece on The Star Kenya Newspaper's Website |
Earlier
this week, BBC Africa released a 3-part documentary titled "Disciples: The Cult of TB Joshua". Through the
150-minute-long documentary, past members of TB Joshua’s church share how they ended up as his disciples, highlight incidences of humiliation,
physical and sexual violence, and give details of fake miracles and occultism
by the late Nigerian pastor. The documentary has received mixed reactions, with
some people praising BBC for their 2-year investigative work, and others
defending the late pastor and his church, as they questioned the motives of
everyone involved in the documentary.
This is
not the first time for African pastors and religious organizations to be
in the spotlight for healing and deliverance related human rights violations. Last year, Kenya’s Paul Mackenzie was arrested following the
discovery of over 400 bodies in mass graves on his property in Malindi. Members
of his Good News International Church died of starvation after he allegedly
instructed them to starve en-masse in their quest to meet Jesus. Uganda’s
Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God is another doomsday
cult that resulted in the death of over 1000 people. Members of the group were
told that the world would end at the turn of the millennium and when it did
not, they started asking questions, resulting in the leaders locking them in
the church and setting it ablaze.
Many
other religious atrocities ranging from pastors walking on the backs of
congregants to farting on their faces, all in the name of deliverance and
healing are regularly documented on social media. Majority of those who end up
in these new religious movements are people looking for a certain type of
relief, mostly related to their health.
When African parliamentarians fly
abroad for medical care, the electorate flock to these pastors and their
religious organizations for healing miracles in exchange for their savings,
time and dignity.
It is about time African governments, and health ministries,
paid attention to the lengths their constituents are going for basic health
care which they can deliver by addressing the workforce gap, increasing health financing
and providing proper leadership and management in the sector.
A
study on the experiences of Kenyan and Ugandan medical internships shows that interns
often work for long hours, with inadequate supervision. Some of those
interviewed mentioned learning how to do procedures on Youtube. Having burnt
out and under trained healthcare workers poses a risk to the healthcare system,
and the workers themselves. This also sets the stage for brain drain which
partly contributes to the workforce shortage. To mitigate this drain, the World
Health Organization has developed the Health Workforce Support and
Safeguards List which identifies countries with low health workforce
as a way to discourage international recruitment of healthcare workers from
those countries. Countries like Nigeria, on the other hand, currently
have a bill that if passed in parliament, will mandate five years mandatory
service in the country for trainees before they can apply to leave the country
for ‘greener pastures’.
Discouraging
movement and international recruitment, does not guarantee that the healthcare
workers will remain in the profession if they opt to remain in their home
countries. The best way to ensure that workers remain in the country, and in
the healthcare workforce, is to invest in healthcare and to ensure that workers
receive adequate training and mentorship, get better compensation and have good
and well resourced working conditions.
Over
the years, African governments have come up with several declarations to
address healthcare funding needs. In 2001, through the Abuja Declaration on
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Infectious Diseases, African governments pledged to
allocate at least 15% of their annual budget to the health sector. So far, only
a handful of countries have achieved this. In 2019, at the African Union
meeting, African governments signed the ALM Declaration which calls for an
increase in national health budgets and the restructuring of African health
systems. And in 2023, African parliamentarians launched the first working group
to mobilize domestic resources for health in Africa.
Though these declarations show intention, parliamentarians should be aware that as
they continue to come up with more declarations and treaties, rogue pastors
continue to fill in the gap by coming up with additional antics to pull in
those who desperately need healthcare.
While
health is not the only priority African governments have on their plate, and
competing priorities compounded with effects from various calamities make it
difficult to give it all the attention, the impact of an unhealthy constituent
is heavier.
When citizens do not feel heard or cared for by the institutions
responsible for their welfare, they will look for other alternatives, however
ridiculous they may be. Unfortunately, these alternatives may lead to
additional complications and sometimes death.
Getting
a good balance between health workforce, financing and governance has proven to
be a tall order in the past, but the above-mentioned religion related
atrocities, and those that flood social media regularly, should be enough cause
for African governments to move from their drafting tables and start showing
tangible action and health related outcomes.
Until the next post, you can watch the 3 part documentary below or read my blog posts on religion and governance or opinion pieces on various aspects of health, governance, education and gender.
Sending love and light,
Sitawa
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