President Nyusi criticises religions that keep people away from schools and hospitals – Mozambique

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President Nyusi criticises religions that keep people away from schools and hospitals – Mozambique

1:10 CAT | 24 May 2018

Notícias

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has called the attitude of religions which urge people to boycott public education and health services “criminal”.

“Our state respects every kind of religion and conviction that the citizen has, but to invent religions to harm the Mozambican people, this is a crime. A church that says children should not go to school or to the hospital, that is not acceptable,” he said in a speech delivered on Thursday quoted by the Mozambican Information Agency (AIM).

Filipe Nyusi was speaking in Mazamba, a village in Sofala province in central Mozambique,

The head of state said he was referring to new religious denominations that are emerging in the country and stressed that such ideas are aimed at marginalising people and perpetuating poverty.

“We are asking these people to stop doing this. We do not want to get into a situation of closing churches,” he said.

One such situation concerns the armed groups that have used a radical interpretation of Islam as a rallying cry in the north of the country, urging people to boycott schools and public services.

This, however, is not a unique case regarding religious practices.

Last week, after fruitless attempts at dialogue, local authorities in the southern province of Gaza banned a sect led by a pastor after complaints from the public, according to Radio Mozambique.

Source: Notícias