NAMFED drives Christians’ involvement in economic growth

Obey MusiwaHerald ReporterThe National Multi-Faith Economic Dialogue (NAMFED), a grouping of religious leaders from different denominations, is pushing to ensure that religious groups play an active role in shaping the nation’s economic strategies and policies.NAMFED chief convener, Mr Obey Mapuranga, recently told journalists that the coalition celebrates the President’s and Government’s spirit of inclusivity.“We are celebrating because the Government of Zimbabwe allowed us, allowed us to be a stakeholder in the consultations, in the formulation of the National Development Strategy 2,” he said.“For that reason, we see the President as a God-given President. By that reason, we see this Government of ZANU-PF as a Government of the people, by the people, to the people, for the people,” said Mr Mapuranga.Mr Mapuranga said during this phase of the NDS2 consultations, NAMFED managed to bring all 10 provinces of Zimbabwe to converge and to submit their input.“The report gives a religious position in terms of germinating a religious economy, a religious thinking, a religious strategic way on how we can participate in the economy as religious people,” he said.“We have done some research and some observations in different countries like, for instance, in Iran, in Saudi Arabia, in Kuwait, in Dubai, they are doing well within the religious fraternity,” he said.Mr Mapuranga emphasised that the dialogue brings together diverse religious leaders who trust in a locally-driven approach to economic development and policy engagement.“There were some individuals, some political actors who did not believe in a homegrown political solution, but as religious leaders, we believe and trust in economic development.“The President has an open-door policy; all our words, all our submissions, all our inputs are going to be heard by the highest office of the land, the Government, and the leadership of the party.”He added that the coalition’s work will be conveyed to millions of believers, given that most Zimbabweans are religious.“We were motivated by the 2022 national statistics census that gave us a demographic of religion in Zimbabwe, which it says 80,3 percent of the Zimbabwean population are believers, tabulating a population of more than 16 million people,” he said.“It means that religion has a pivotal role to play in the economic emancipation of this nation.”Share on FacebookPost on XFollow usSave

Originally published on Zimbabwe Herald

Source: Zimbabwe Herald