Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 31 (EMN): Clean Election Movement (CEM) is a social responsibility and requires Christians to play active roles in their capacities, observed Dr. Villo Naleo, Core committee convener of CEM, Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC).
Moreover, Nagaland is the highest Baptist populated state in the world, so the majority of the 60 MLAs are Baptist.
“A Christian dominated state practicing one of the most corrupted forms of electioneering system is sacrilegious to Christian ethos and principles. We as Christians have failed miserably in our Christian witness in the political arena”, he observed.
Naleo, who is also the academic dean of Shalom Bible Seminary, was speaking at the CEM seminar organised by the Kohima Baptist Pastors Fellowship (KBPF) on Thursday at Khedi Baptist Church, in Kohima.
Besides that, Nagaland is a unique state with a total population of more than 90% Christians. “In a context where the majority are Christians, if Christians do not involve themselves in politics, there is one hundred percent chance that we are giving opportunity to a non-Christian government in a Christian dominated state”, he added.
“Clean Election Movement is a social responsibility of the church. It started with the noble idea that it is the church’s responsibility to uphold the spiritual and moral values of the people. The Clean Election Movement is neither an emotional reaction nor a politically-based movement. It has emerged with a sheer concern to help people to adhere to Christian moral and ethical principles in the preparation, process, and progress of voting”, he said.
‘The way the society has abused voting rights, having double names, protecting the village electoral roll, refusing to strike off the names of the dead, etc is unthinkable. Therefore, it is pertinent to address this issue rightly in family circles, churches, institutions, and everywhere possible’, Naleo added.
The church must not get involved with the government hand in gloves but side by side. It must influence the government by remaining a moral guide, he said.
‘The NBCC’s role is not to govern but to advocate for electing a righteous, God-fearing, and honest candidate who will testify God in his/her political career. Christians must be witnesses to political success. Besides that, our concern is that we Christians must bear witness in exercising our political rights’, the CEM, NBCC convener said.
As the ordained ministers, pastors and deacons, and full-time workers have taken a sacred vow to be in the ministerial service, engaging in active politics is another thing. Being a representative of the church, he advised that it would be best if they do not involve themselves in any form of campaign in partisan politics. In that way, it can protect the church from becoming a soft target for criticism and falling prey to money power during election times.
One of the action plans, he observed, was that the Church needs to come out clean.
“Many times criticisms arise because some church workers, deacons or ordained ministers have misbehaved and the whole church/association has been labeled wrongly”, he said.
“We are not talking about the members of the church, but we are talking about the ordained ministers, pastors and deacons and full-time workers, only a segment of the church. Who must show strict adherence to the Election Code of Conduct and the guidelines provided by the CEM-NBCC. And if any church worker representing the church is found violating the CEM guidelines provided by the NBCC, the local church must be responsible for suspending the membership/license of that particular person”, he suggested.
The church is talking about Clean Election and if it does not have action plans similar to this, it will become a mockery to the people, Naleo added.
President of Kohima Baptist Pastors Fellowship, Rev. Vezopa Rhakho, said the Clean Election Movement initiated by the Nagaland Baptist Church Council has been gaining momentum since 2002. People are beginning to realise that the malpractices during elections are morally and spiritually wrong.
Board chairman of Khedi Baptist Church, Vipralhou Kesiezie, said that the seminar was to educate the church members to exercise their franchise responsibly without entitlement or influence.
‘This is the right time for the church to educate its members to practice and exercise its voting with responsibility in order to elect the right persons as our representatives,’ he said.
The open rampant misuse of election practices by the people and leaders and their agents is a matter of great concern and worry. He called upon the church to rise up and put a stop to these evil practices and bring a positive transformation for the benefit of the people.
Around hundred people from 29 different churches participated at the seminar.