Leaders of various Christian groups in Ghana have petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to reconsider the directive that church services be conducted within one hour.
“The leaders of the various Christian groups are of the view that the time allocated for church services needs to be reconsidered since religious groups and for that matter, churches have abided by all regulations and safety protocols laid down by the government,” Archbishop Philip Naameh, President of Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC), told a local media Wednesday, July 1.
Archbishop Naameh who is the Local Ordinary of the Tamale Archdiocese observed that people who are used to having worship for three or four hours were finding it difficult to adjust to the one hour that the President also prescribed in the set of the COVID-19 directives.
“We don’t dispute the logic behind one hour. We understand that the more you waste time together in a big gathering, the greater the risk that people may get infected,” he said.
The Ghanaian Archbishop added, “But honestly if we have proved that we can observe all other safety measures, including church fumigation, wearing of masks, hand sanitization and avoiding all manner of physical interactions, I think we can comfortably conduct our services within a little more than an hour. An hour and a half is all we ask for.”
He said that in Parishes where public Masses had resumed, the allowed maximum number of worshippers had been adhered to, that of 100 participants.
“Though there are churches that are very big, we have adhered to the small numbers of worshippers allowed nonetheless,” Archbishop Naameh said.
The stringent guidelines for the safe reopening of places of worship in Ghana elicited mixed reactions among members of the public, with some questioning the consistency of the government that allowed resumption of market activities and other social gatherings without any restrictions following the lifting of the partial lockdown.
Ghana’s President, May 31, eased the restrictions that had been imposed on social gatherings and directed that public religious activities would, on June 5, resume with a maximum of 100 people in every single service.
He said that the reopening of churches would be carried out in phases, with the first phase allowing for 25 per cent of congregants who were supposed to observe a physical distance of one meter.
Meanwhile, religious leaders in Ghana have lamented about the recklessness displayed in the West African country where a section of the population, including religious leaders, are not adhering to safety protocols put in place to contain the spread of the virus.
Some pastors were imprisoned for flouting some COVID-19 safety protocols while some top government officials were shown not to adhere to social distancing rules.
Archbishop Naameh urged politicians to practice the laws of the land the way they urge citizens to do.
Source: acafrica.com
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DEAR PASTORS WISE UP. THE RESTRICTIONS DOES NOT DO AKUFO ADDO ANY GOOD. IT IS INTENDED FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. WHEN YOU OBSERVE THEM YOU PROTECT YOURSELVES AND YOUR CONGREGATION. SOME PASTORS WHO ARE WISE AND RESPONSIBLE DO MORE RESTRICTIONS THAN AKUFO ADDO HAS DIRECTED. YOU DON'T NEED TWO HOUR IN PRAYERS BEFORE GOD CAN HEAR YOU. COD IS USING COVIS-19 TO TELL YOU FAKE PASTORS THAT YOU MUST ALL CHANGE. IF YOU HAD TWO HOURS CHURCH SERVICE YOU MUST CHANGE TO MAKE IT ONE. IT IS A PRACTICE YOU SHOULD KEEP EVEN IF WE GET OUT OF THE COVID-19. YOU DON'T DO GOD ANY GOOD FOR YOUR LONG SERVICE. RATHER YOU WASTE THE PRECIOUS TIME GOD HAS GIVEN TO YOU TO SERVE YOUR NEIGHBOR BY THE GOOD THINGS YOU DO FOR THEM .
Are we serious as a country at all? At a time we are seeing exponential increase in cases people are rather calling for further relaxation of restrictions! I am a Catholic myself but I find the call a bit worrying within the context of the escalating case counts we are experiencing currently. And more worrying is the increasing number of cases among the health workers which has resulted in the loss already of at least 4 top doctors. And it seems the call by the people in the frontline is being ignored! The doctors are calling for the suspension of the ongoing voters registration exercise which is a fertile ground for the rapid spread of the virus! Are these politicians so bent on power they are willing to sacrifice the lives of Ghanaians just to get the power they want? God not being unjust, we now see they themselves getting infected with the virus and some dying out of it! The impunity and total disregard for social-distancing protocols which characterized the just concluded NPP primaries was nauseating and appalling . That alone gave religious bodies the spine to call for further relaxations of restrictions which I find problematic because two wrongs do not make a right. I see Melinda Gates admonition, for which she was heavily but unfairly criticized, coming to fruition earlier than we all expected! You have doctors already warning us of health care facilities getting overwhelmed as a result of increasing infections for which reason they have called on the EC to immediately suspend the voters registration. One only needs to visit these centres to realize the officers are not only incompetent at enforcing these protocols but some are downright unprofessional and very provocative! Basic crow control is totally absent at these centres!
no way... reduce the time to 30 mins and 50 ppl...