The Bishop of the Sekondi Diocese of the Methodist Church of Ghana, Rt Rev. Edward Ofori-Donkor, has cautioned politicians who insult men of God whenever they proclaim the word of God on governance issues to think again.
He said when the church spoke about national issues, it was only about governance and not about any political party or party politics.
Rev. Ofori-Donkor insisted that, "We have all become hypocrites and the few who are bold enough to speak against these evil deeds — corruption, bribery and nepotism — are insulted and attacked."
The Sekondi Methodist Bishop said being citizens of Ghana, taxpayers and most importantly servants of the most high God, "We have every right to speak about what God puts on our hearts”.
Rt Rev. Ofori-Donkor, who made the statement at Mpohor in the Western Region, therefore advised every person elected as President of the country to be obedient to God if he wished to have obedient citizens, and added that every president who renounced his allegiance to God should not expect faithful allegiance from his officials and citizens.
54th Synod Addressing the 54th Synod of the diocese at the Ebenezer Methodist Chapel, the bishop observed that politicians and heads of state who replaced the word of God with political expediency would always fail and be likened to salt which had lost its savour.
He said: "Such a manner of behaviour undermines all obedience, loses all commitment to civility and prepares the grounds for immorality, abuse of power, bribery and corruption and insolence in our body politic. Ghana is a country of so many laws and so many transgressions and we are being haunted by our own sins. So many laws, policies and promises are given but only a few are kept."
The theme for the three-day meeting was, "Witnessing to Christ: Holistic Spirituality in Youth Development, the Role of the Parent."
Decreased respect for rule of law Rt Rev. Ofori-Donkor noted that the worst that could happen in governance was the disrespect for the rule of law, saying that a government that could bring its citizens to live under the laws of the country and see to it that the laws were fairly administered and were willingly obeyed by the citizens would be the best government.
"But this is not what we see. Let me emphasise that most of the problems in our country today are not caused by the system but the people who operate the system, who are nation wreckers," he maintained.
The Methodist Bishop declared, "In a country where corruption goes on in all sectors, where some security agents have become armed robbers and recruitment into the security services is only through bribery and nepotism, that country is on the verge of collapse."
MTTD officers "Our roads are lined up with some Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) officers whose only job is to collect money from defaulting drivers and allow them to do what they like on our roads. We all know what is going on in our ports, ministries, hospitals, schools, judiciary, passport office, in business circles, the presidency and even in the church”, he alleged.
Erratic power supply The bishop further observed that the erratic power supply had brought in its trail untold hardship on everyone and there seemed to be no solution to the problem.
<<Print>>