Work hard to foster dev — Most Rev. Afrifah-Agyekum
The Catholic Bishop of Koforidua, Most Rev. Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum, has entreated Ghanaians to change their minds and embrace the spirit of hard work to foster the development aspirations they so much desire.
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He also urged the people to show honesty and humility in their dealings with one another to enable them to live at peace with each other as well as help inculcate such positive virtues in young future leaders.
“Until we begin to embrace the spirit of hard work and love positive qualities such as honesty and humility in our daily lives, Ghana will have a long way to go in terms of achieving our development aspirations,” he stated.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Koforidua last Monday, Most Rev. Afrifah-Agyekum stated that “we must change our minds that things of the government are not ours and rather start to embrace hard work, honesty and humility, critical virtues that should be demonstrated from the top to the bottom among all Ghanaians.”
He was sharing some insights into the Christmas and New Year messages he shared with the congregation of the St George Catholic Cathedral in Koforidua.
Negative habits
The Catholic Bishop said Ghana had experienced slow growth over many decades simply because many Ghanaians were not only lazy with poor work ethics, but had developed habits that undermined progress.
He, however, said he was optimistic that the country could witness positive development when Ghanaians worked hard and were time conscious, while refraining from the habits of going to work late and closing anytime they wished.
He particularly expressed worry over the growing culture where the Ghanaian worker, especially civil servants, had developed sluggish attitudes and poor work ethics.
“We live in a country where people paid with the taxpayer’s money always rudely tell their fellow Ghanaians to wait for a week or a month for services that could be provided in less than an hour or two, overlooking the fact that many people in need of such urgent services have travelled from long distances.”
“Documents that have to be retrieved for people who access our offices and ministries are needlessly delayed, frustrating other Ghanaians who badly need such important services to process their documents.
“Such lazy attitudes should be eschewed by Ghanaians, especially the young ones who do not want to dirty their hands in working,” Most Rev. Afrifah-Agyekum stated.
Praise for President Mahama
The Catholic Bishop asked Ghanaians to thank God for helping the country go through a peaceful general election and also praised the people for accepting the outcome of the polls.
He was particularly full of praise for President John Dramani Mahama for conceding defeat and calling the President-elect to congratulate him, saying that “I found that to be a good and mature gesture which has brought Ghana to where it is now.”
He appealed to the people to pray for the outgoing and incoming administrations, explaining that “they both need our prayers as one group retires and the other takes on the mantle of governance.”
Leadership by example
Most Rev. Afrifah-Agyekum added that besides praying, Ghanaians, particularly the leadership of the country, needed to demonstrate humility towards others, saying that “if you are not humble, it will be difficult for you to govern well.”
“When the people see in the leadership that they are people who are humble, they will certainly feel free and be frank with them and guide them,” he added.
