By REBECCA MUSHOTA
NATIONAL Guidance and Religious Affairs Minister Godfridah Sumaili has attributed the apparent increase in the cases of suicide to growing levels of selfishness, ungodliness and substance abuse.
Reverend Sumaili said more people were resorting to taking their own lives because they had selfish characteristics as they did not care about the pain they would cause to the families and society they left behind.
SUMAILI
The minister said the other reason was the ever increasing distances among relatives and the lack of knowledge on the love of God at a personal level.
This is because relatives no longer spend time taking care of each other, while many churches have abandoned preaching the gospel of the love of God for mankind in preference for prosperity preaching.
Media has reported a case or two of suicide almost on a daily basis in recent weeks, many of the cases seem to arise out of marital disputes and financial problems.
Rev Sumaili said the other causes of suicide were depression and mental illness.
“This is why the Church should go back to preaching the gospel and take an interest in how their members live at home to ensure that relatives are close,” the minister said.
Rev Sumaili said it was easier for relatives that were close to each other notice whenever a relation was acting out of character and, ultimately, to intervene.
She said the Church should also improve on its counseling programmes so that people were given more attention.
The minister said the Word of God was the most effective solution which was capable of dealing with any case of heartbreak and desperation.
Rev Sumaili said her ministry had engaged churches on the need for them to focus on promoting family values like a head of a family showing love to family members.
She said the Church should also preach against the abuse of alcohol and drugs, because that was another source of irrational thinking that led to thoughts on suicide.
The youth were more at risk because of the various self-destructive behaviours they engaged in.
Most police stations have handled various cases of suicide lately but police could not provide statistics because suicide was not a crime and so it is not recorded.
