The notable South African cleric, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, may have retired from active duty but he is certainly not tired. He has been giving his time to worthy causes, especially those that concern ways of helping the poor and the less privileged.
However, the 1984 Nobel Peace laureate, who contributed immensely in the fight against apartheid in his country, is very strict about integrity and discipline. This explains why he announced last Friday that he had quit his role as an ambassador for the British charity, Oxfam, after the organization was hit by sexual misconduct allegations.
A statement released from the elderly cleric’s office did not mince words. It said, “The Archbishop is deeply disappointed by allegations of immorality and possible criminality involving humanitarian workers linked to the charity. He is also saddened by the impact of the allegations on the many thousands of good people who have supported Oxfam’s righteous work.”
The statement said that Archbishop Tutu, who has turned 86, was retiring as an Oxfam global ambassador, meaning that he had withdrawn from many of his public commitments. Two notable celebrities -Senegalese singer, Baaba Maal, and British actress, Minnie Driver – have also quit as Oxfam ambassadors after the scandal erupted early this month.
The popular British charitable organization has admitted that there was lack of transparency, on its part, over an internal investigation about the use of prostitutes by its personnel deployed to Haiti, to assist the country’s recovery effort after the earthquake that nearly devastated it in 2010.
Although the investigation led to the dismissal of four employees and the resignation of three others, some observers still indict Oxfam for the lousy way it allowed the scandal to fester on.
Archbishop Tutu has been forced by the challenges of age and ill health to scale down his voracious appetite to attend to engagements in virtually all parts of the world but with great passion to the campaign against social injustice in the developing world.
