Theme Focus: Construction Corruption
On the 24th April 2013 a garment factory building (Rana Plaza) collapsed, killing over 700 people (number still rising), injuring over 2,000 and causing devastating damage.
Oh God, the cries of pain and loss rise before you. Comfort the heartbroken.
What caused this disaster?
The architect who designed the building in 2004 claims he was asked to design a three to four storey for a commercial shopping mall, not for industrial use and not for eight storeys. Illegal storeys were added, industrial equipment installed, overcrowding in work spaces – together all contributed to the collapse.
Lord, reveal the truth and shine your light on the actions that led to this collapse so that prevention and protection of workers can be strengthened.
Lord, expose injustice, exploitation and corruption and may this tragedy be a stepping stone for change.
Construction
The list of construction projects plagued by corruption is growing, being seen as one of the most corrupt sectors in our world. Why?
Aggressive competition for contracts, often lacking transparency, tempts the industry to find short cuts to win contracts
Bureaucracy created to form levels of permits and approvals that form layers of bribe opportunists
Greed to gain much for as little as possible
Quality of work difficult to monitor, especially as essential part underground or covered with cement.
Manipulation through project overruns / delays
Poor oversight by investors not researching and acting on knowledge of poor prior performance or even corruption knowledge of contractors
The list goes on – the outcome though remains the same: devastating loss of life! Corruption kills. The Bangladesh disaster shows us the face of corruption.
Lord, show us how we can respond to this corruption?
The EXPOSED: shining a light on corruption campaign is one concrete way we can all respond. Read through and sign the global call to action and make a personal pledge to walk with integrity.
Construction Aid
A significant part of an aid response to both natural disasters and post conflict is around re building homes, and infrastructure. The corruption threat is even greater because of:
Weakened to non-existent quality controls
Sudden influx of donor funds, often to be used in tight time frames
Exploitative and powerful black markets that exert power over supply chains
Contractual nepotism
Delivery chain extracts significant portion of costs
Under qualified contractors
As we prayerfully reflect on the corruption in construction let us also stand alongside those who have ethically taking a stand.
Unashamedly ethical: a campaign promoting ethics, values and clean living, inviting business to commit to accountable practices.
Lord, we want to glorify you and demonstrate your character in and through all we put our hands to. Whether it be building, serving, selling, writing, planning, cleaning, growing, designing, studying, speaking, we want to be a witness to you. May we be the change we want to see.
Lord we pray for our industrial sector – and pray that advocates may rise up and seek justice:
• Workers who unfairly treated and poorly paid
• Working conditions that are unsafe
• Unfair trading practices
May we learn to act through not only what we say but what we do, what we buy, where we buy and how we live.
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