‘Fight menace of corruption’
Ghanaians have been called upon to mobilise all available resources to fight corruption and the menace of environmental degradation, especially illegal mining otherwise known as galamsey, to facilitate the orderly and sustained development of the country.
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That is important because the country is richly endowed with natural and material resources but due to corruption, mismanagement and misuse of resources the country is poor.
The call was made by Most Rev. Prof. Daniel Yinkah Sarfo, the Primate and Metropolitan Archbishop of the Anglican Province of West Africa and Archbishop of the Internal Province of Ghana.
Most Rev. Prof. Sarfo, who is also the Anglican Bishop of Kumasi, made the appeal when he delivered the sermon at Ghana’s 60th anniversary thanksgiving service organised by the Ghana Christian Council in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland in conjunction with the Ghana High Commission in London.
Theme
Looking at the religious factor relating to the theme for the service: “Mobilising for Ghana’s Future: Building a New Nation in Christ,” he said many African countries had God in their national anthems, yet they tended to forget God and did not live by the tenets of their anthems.
He said at one international conference at which he moderated a discussion on whether the continent’s resources were a blessing or a curse, participants realised that Africa was the richest continent with numerous natural and material resources but because of corruption, greed, selfishness and environmental mismanagement, the continent was the poorest.
Most Rev. Prof. Sarfo, therefore, called on Ghanaians to see themselves as one people and work towards harnessing the natural and human resources for further development.
He charged Christians to be good, law-abiding, disciplined, hard-working and patriotic to enable them to contribute to building a new Ghana in Christ.
Praise God
Most Rev. Prof. Yinkah Sarfo urged Ghanaians to praise God for the peaceful conduct of the last general election and the transfer of power, which had endeared the country to the international community.
He said elections in other countries ended in civil wars and described the situation in Ghana as “marvellous in our eyes and it is the doing of God,” and encouraged the government to succeed in building a new Ghana where we would have the political will to uproot corruption and illegal mining, eschew laziness and evil, tribalism, ethnocentrism, extreme partisanship and put Ghana second after God.”
Commenting on the destruction of the environment through galamsey, Most Rev. Prof. Sarfo said: “Our environment is nothing to write home about. Through illegal mining we have destroyed our water bodies,” and stressed that: “The earth is God’s garden so let us keep it clean for Him.”
Prayer
He prayed to God to bless the country with sound learning, pure manners and wisdom “and save us from violence, discord, confusion, pride and arrogance”.
“In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in you to fail,” he prayed and committed all the celebrations of Ghana@60 into the hands of God through Jesus Christ.