21 August 2008
The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) has expressed concern about foreigners taking hold of the economy and other strategic national entities."The country is being run by foreigners; it's becoming increasingly difficult for Ghanaians to run business in their own country, but developed and advanced countries were built by the indigenous people.
Foreigners come here and assume control of the economic sector, from banking through to petty trading...and are now infiltrating into the political terrain; this is dangerous for the development of the country," the Council stated during an interaction with the leading members of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) in Accra.
The Right Reverend Dr Yaw Frimpong Manso, Chairman of the Christian Council, who led the discussion also expressed reservation about the political tagging of personalities who spoke their mind.
"Anytime you express your candid opinion depending on what you say, you are either tagged as New Patriotic Party (NPP) or National Democratic Congress (NDC) activist. This is dissuading meaningful non-political persons to genuinely contribute to national debate and offer alternative ideas."
The Council also expressed apprehension about developments on the political field, particularly the hiccups that characterised the recent limited voter registration.
Rt. Rev. Frimpong Manso said: "If just the registration of the electorate degenerates into violence, breach of the Political Parties Election 2008 Code of Conduct and other infractions, then God save Ghana; we cannot anticipate what will happen on Election Day.
"The Christian community is not happy about this mayhem, intimidation, antagonism and political animosity among the political parties...we are advising our members to shun politicians who engage in personality attacks and other undemocratic tendencies. Ghanaians need peace and stability to develop."
The Christian Council noted with reservation the bloating of the voter's register and advised the Electoral Commission (EC) to put in place mechanisms to ensure that the register was cleared of all unqualified names before the December 7 elections.
He urged the government to resource the EC adequately, avoid interfering with the operations of the EC and create a level playing field for political engagement of all presidential candidates and political parties.
The Rt. Rev Dr Paul Fynn, former Chairman of the Council, advised politicians to focus on issues instead of engaging in personality attacks, address issues affecting the people like high cost of living, inflation, unemployment and provision of social amenities.
"We detest politicians who attack personalities, but appreciate those who propagate on issues...personality attacks distract voters but issue-based politicking attracts floating voters," he said, and urged political leaders to advise their followers to stop the attacks.
Mr. Emmanuel Ansah Antwi, DFP presidential candidate outlined the party's blueprint for contesting the December polls.
He said it focuses on agricultural development, provision of subsidy to farmers, youth development, health, national security, prudent economic management, role of chiefs in local governance, adherence to the rule of law and good governance.
Dr Obed Asamoah, DFP life patron, said the bloating of the voters' register posed a serious challenge to the country, "as it will create problems for acceptability of the election results".
He called for collaboration between the Church and the political parties to ensure that the church injected moral and spiritual behaviou into the political environment.
The DFP delegation included Mr. Bede Ziedeng, General Secretary; Mr. John Amekah, Deputy General Secretary; Mr. Kwaku Baah, National Chairman and Greater Accra regional executives.
...And Methodist Church calls for "Clean Election Campaign"
In a related development, The Most Reverend Dr. Robert Aboagye-Mensah, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana has reminded Ghanaians on the need to ensure free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections.
"Every effort should be made by government and the people of Ghana to ensure a free, fair and transparent elections devoid of rancour and bitterness on the part of the participating political parties", he counseled.
Dr. Aboagye-Mensah, was speaking at a press conference to round off the church's fifth Biennial and 43rd Conference said the church, in collaboration with other NGOs had started a "Clean Election Campaign" to educate and inculcate in the electorate the spirit of clean and credible elections.
The four-day conference on the theme: 'Come Holy Spirit, Empower Your Church for Missions' brought together over 500 delegates in Ghana and delegates from sister churches overseas.
A communiqué issued after the conference noted the church's preparedness to help in the holistic development of the individual, society and the nation as a whole.
The conference adopted a 10-year strategic plan at the core of which is the concept of change to strengthen the operations of church activities.The church noted with concern the problems of HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and "streetism" and called on the government, NGOs and Civil society organisations to redouble their efforts in salvaging the situation.
"In the same vein, conference appeals to government to assist reduce the incidence of youth unemployment in the country by providing avenues for training for the youth in the trades, to support and compliment formal academic education offered".
The conference expressed satisfaction about the oil find and called on government to use the resources for development. "Conference however, calls for development of curricula for schools, colleges and universities to offer appropriate levels of training to cater for the needs of the evolving petroleum industry".
The conference also recommended proper coordination all diocesan projects to obtain maximum benefits, "The church continues to improve provision of care for the aged among its clergy and the lay members and commends government for the LEAP projects".
It lauded the introduction of the new education policy and called for the provision of appropriate teaching materials and training of staff, "We express total support for government in its decision to reverse an earlier policy to drop moral education"
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