Compliance is defined as acting in accordance with another’s command, request, rule, or wish.  It is clear that there are two different personalities involved.  It is also clear that one has communicated to the other his desire for the other to submit to his will.  He anticipates that the other will comprehend his desires and will meekly do exactly what he wants. We are now being asked to comply or pay fines. Here is how it was in Africa.

In Zaire the one expected to comply and the one offering the opportunity for compliance have widely differing perspectives. The one requesting a specific action may have an unexpressed motive that was not revealed when he demands obedience.  The compliance, or non-compliance, to the command, request, rule, or wish has a lot to do with the perceived authority of the one making the demand.   The one being asked to comply may have a cynical view of his authority. It also has something to do with the reasonableness of the demand. I need to give you examples.

Vehicle inspections in Zaire and the necessity of each vehicle owner to possessing a valid current document was a new requirement. My response was less than compliant when some self-declared inspectors arrived at Rethy and informed me of the new law.   I heartily agreed that all the vehicles using the roads in Zaire should be safe.  That seemed reasonable, but I balked when I was informed that they had arrived to inspect all the dorm vehicles, and that I would be required to pay $90 per inspection.

The vehicles needing inspection, in my opinion, were those I frequently saw undergoing welding repairs in Mugasa’s back yard.  Nothing was considered beyond repair. 

The most popular pick-up truck was then the one ton Toyota Stout.  The most frequent repairs were made to the suspension and chassis of the truck.  It had been experimentally proven that the truck could carry twenty-five 100 kilo sacks of corn plus 12 passengers seated on top of the load.  By adding more leafs to the springs the load capacity had been increased to the point that the truck chassis was compromised and bent until it broke.  Mugasa did a lot of welding, adding patches from other broken trucks to make the reinforcements.  When they reattached the cab and the bed of the truck, incidentals like working brake lights and turn signals were neglected.  I urged the inspectors to help those vehicle owners be sure that at least their brakes worked.

I resisted compliance.  I was skeptical of the validity of the law.  Were these guys really government officials authorized to collect inspection fees?  Maybe I got the price wrong, but with the exchange rate what it was then, and since 90 Zaires was next to nothing, I was sure they were after the US dollars.  Being a muzungu, I was certain to have American dollars.  I refused to pay or allow them to inspect the truck, saying that we maintained our own vehicles and that they were safe. 

There was another local official who had apparently been assigned by Mobutu’s government to be sure the Zaïroise had their identity papers in order and that the foreigners, including the missionaries, had the proper visas in unexpired passports.  Though he had no uniform we came to recognize him by the green boots that he wore, which outlasted the common black rubber boots locally available.  I was advised that this really was his job and he had some government papers that confirmed his authority. 

We came to accept that he was legitimate and from time to time he asked me, as the Rethy Station Supervisor, to help him check on all the missionary passports.  He was, of course, looking for any infractions where he could assess a fine and collect the appropriate fees. He may have received a salary from the government at one time, but since the currency devalued and the soldiers were no longer being paid, he at least had the official seal and his position of authority.  I am quite sure that the fines he levied, whenever he could, were the source of his livelihood.  He used the stamp and signed the receipts so they were authentic and verified compliance with the law. I was content to comply with his verifying our documents demonstrating that we were legal guests in his country and properly registered. 

In Zaire there was no official way to inform us of new regulations that might include various ways we might be in non-compliance and subject to a fine.  I was responsible as the manager of Editions CECA, the church run printing press, but had done no research to discover what laws had been enacted to which I might be expected to comply.   Our operations included a bookstore, and marketing custom printing services to the public. There were no laws, that I knew about, how to price things, or how to collect taxes.  I was found to be non-compliant as the manager of Editions CECA.

A well-dressed young man came to inform me of my bookstore pricing infraction and the necessity of my paying a fine to him. He took strong exception to our posting prices in dollars, which was not the currency of his country. His responsibilities, he said, included inspections into situations where merchants were arbitrarily setting prices to take advantage of the public.

My efforts to explain why we used the dollar as a reference were not acceptable to him. He was determined to collect a fine. I did not comply. The discussion went on and on. He may have been self-employed.

I finally showed him a current printing order from RVA, the government agency in Bunia, that was in charge of collecting customs and fees at the airport. I showed the young man the $50.00 price that I was required to print on the document. Surely, if the authorities at the airport had me print a dollar price on their form, I could mark the prices of our bookstore items in dollars as well. It was only a reference. The people knew the exchange rates. We did not require that the items be bought with US dollars.

From his pocket he removed and folded a square of white cloth with which he wiped the perspiration from his face. He then fastidiously dried his underarms, beneath his shirt. He had lost his cool, and the expected receipt of a large fine from Editions CECA was dashed. I told him I appreciated his service to the people and assured him that we did not charge unfair prices.

I did not comply with his instructions, pay a fine, or change our bookstore pricing reference system, but I did give him a ream of paper.  He may have had an assignment from some other government official somewhere to insure that small business comply with good business practices and serve the public properly.

The young man seeking to assess a fine to earn his living from the Editions CECA bookstore account may have been successful elsewhere, forcing young Duka owners to comply or quit and close their stores.

The next visit I had at Editions CECA was from government tax collectors who came from Bunia in a Toyota Land Cruiser. They appeared to have much greater authority than the young man. They had arrived to collected the unpaid taxes on all the sales we had made during the last five years. The documents and forms they pulled from their briefcases certainly looked official. They wanted to see all our receipt books and they would help us with the calculations.

Our treasurer, Kakura, called me in from my back corner office to join the meeting. Church and missionary services had enjoyed tax free status for years, but apparently something had changed!

These men expected us to immediately comply with their demand.  Kakura no doubt understood the situation better than I and would not have put up the same resistance I did as a missionary appointed by the church to manage the press.

I became very uncooperative, stating that there was no way we could pay such a tax when we had never been told that it had to be collected. Were they interested in forcing us to stop serving the country? Didn’t they know we did print jobs for any who came and sold to the people whatever we had available? Did they want hymnbooks or Bibles? They weren’t interested. I was disgusted and said, “Maybe I should just leave the country and let the press die.”

It was eventually agreed that we compromise and take the last two months’ receipts from the bookstore and calculate the tax using that information. I had just returned to Congo after the rebellion and could do nothing about the time before that. I guess they were getting impatient with me, as the discussion had already gone on for several hours. It seemed reasonable.

Kakura went to the bookstore and came back with several receipt books. Together they added up all the small receipts, in Zaires of course, and calculated five percent of the total, then returned to the bookstore get money from the safe. The government men were becoming more and more impatient. What was found in the safe proved to be about half of the calculated total.

We began counting and verifying the packets of filthy, worn, Nouveau Zaire bills. It became apparent that the money being collected was nowhere near what they had anticipated.

I insisted that we needed a formal receipt so we would have evidence showing that we had paid our tax. The one who had shown me the documents, proving their authority, pulled out a receipt book, one that automatically made three carbon copies. I was encouraged that the men weren’t out to cheat the ones who had sent them from Bunia.

With twine we tied up the money into bricks and put it in a cardboard box. It was nearly quitting time at the press and I thanked Kakura for all his help. The men departed.

Kakura showed me the receipt. It looked very official. I wondered if any cash had survived the collection. I was also curious as to how much had immediately been advanced to our press workmen during our long discussions. Kakura was wise to the ways of government authorities, and had noticed something I had missed. A thick sheet of paper had prevented the creation of the automatic copies of the receipt so the evidence of the amount collected could be forged in later.

We immediately made a photocopy of the original receipt to send to the CECA office in Bunia, reporting that we had paid the Editions CECA taxes at Rethy for the year.  We had complied, but not with an unquestioning submissive attitude.  We had resisted the authorities unreasonable demand.

In this country, jobs are being offered on line for COVID Compliance Officers to enforce a detailed set of directives said to keep us safe from the virus.  The fines for non-compliance are high enough to cripple any small business with the added threat of closure for non-compliance. 

The COVID Compliance guidelines are different in every country.  They are different in every state, every county, and in every school district.  When authorities assume the responsibility of keeping their people safe and attempt to follow the World Health Organization’s recommendations it is certain each has a different interpretation as to what should be done. 

What are reasonable precautions to reduce the spread of a virus undetectable among healthy children?  What is the motivation of those demanding compliance or looking to be hired to become COVID compliance officers? Who decides the fines for non-compliance to small businesses and to any unmasked individual who dares enter the store?

COVID Compliance officer jobs are being offered on line at $70,000 to $250,000 for different levels of responsibility in different states.  Local small business non-compliance fines that I know about are from $1,000 to $10,000 and the non-mask wearer could be fined up to $1,000.

The Bible clearly teaches that we are to submit to the authorities, who are put in place by God.  They are there to praise and encourage those who do good works and to punish and execute God’s wrath on those who do evil. God is the One who defines what is good and evil, not man. 

The 10 commandments God has written cannot be changed.  He has absolute authority and man in his own efforts cannot comply.  Jesus did not come to abolish the law but fulfill it. Compliance to God’s law includes even what we think in our hearts as Jesus taught. Through his death Jesus paid the price to satisfy God’s penalty for non-compliance that we might receive life through Him.  The price of refusing to humble ourselves before God and confessing to Him our total inability to save ourselves is eternal punishment in Hell.

Complying to what Jesus said is only possible through accepting the sacrifice made for us that we might live with His Spirit in us.

The Bible says: “Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”