Criticising the government of the day must not be the daily preoccupation of the opposition, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams has said.

The founder of Action Chapel International told his congregation on Sunday, 12 November that criticisms of the government by the opposition must be “constructive” rather than “destructive”, adding when need be, the opposition must criticise, but also give praise when due.

According to him, when in opposition, politicians criticise, attack and insult the government of the day because they are unable to maintain the lifestyle they had while in government, and, so, mount incessant pressure on the government through skillful arguments and invectives on radio with the hope that such behaviour would earn them a post in a future government of their party.

“…In the event that four years come and you are out of office, because you did not earn it and you haven’t worked for it, you will never know how to maintain it.

“So, while you are in opposition, you have to fight those in government, blackmail them, implicate them, criticise them.

“And I’m not saying we should not criticise those in government, we should criticise them but the criticism must be constructive and not destructive and we shouldn’t criticise them to a point where we don’t allow them to work, and everything they do we blast them, everything they do we attack them.

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t criticise them, when they do wrong we should criticise but when they do good, too, we must congratulate them, we must also praise them to encourage them to do better,” he said.

“So, the only reason why you are fighting to come back is because now that you are out of office, you don’t know how to maintain a lifestyle you’ve been introduced to that you didn’t earn.

“Why is it that you did not earn it? Because you didn’t go through process. Our value system is wrong as a people and if we are going to deal with corruption, it must be at all levels of society.

“And we should just stop attacking politicians and deal with all sections of society. Let’s be a people who respect values…” he added.