Wednesday, the Christian confraternity across the world will observe Christmas that marks the birth of Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago.
Even those who do not profess the Christian faith will join in the celebration of the day in various ways. This group of people share gifts and visit the sick at hospitals.
Many years ago when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Heavenly Host praised God, saying, “Praise to God in the Highest and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.”
Mankind has always glorified God for deciding to bring Jesus to the world to atone for our sins and by offering the platform for Him to lead the way once again for our salvation.
In fact, as a country, we have not lost the opportunity to preach peace because peace is a key driver of the development process.
We are yet to see a country that has made progress in the midst of war or conflict. Countries that have advanced have done so in an atmosphere of peace and stability.
Thousands of years ago, the angels saw that it would be difficult for mankind to make progress if they do not give peace a chance to reign in their activities.
There are also many challenges in our effort to be one another’s keeper, particularly in the present divisive politics that we are engaged in.
Although we have made progress as a country, there are bottlenecks in our march towards the vision and mission enshrined in our Constitution.
Let not Christmas be marked with mere merrymaking. We should use the occasion to take stock of our stewardship at the various levels of national affairs.
The Daily Graphic urges the political class to lead the way to true reconciliation in our society where people who have different political beliefs can agree on the way the country should be governed.
The present arrangement in which the opposition sits on the fence, expecting the government to fail so that it can take over, is not good enough. It should be possible for the government and the opposition to share in the vision of the country, which is primarily to improve the well-being of the people.
We know that the two major political parties have diametrically opposing ideologies but they will agree that all that the people want is access to the basic necessities of life so that they can also make a living.
The Daily Graphic believes that despite the political differences, we can, in the spirit of the season, extend goodwill even to our perceived political opponents.
That way, we can build a very formidable front to confront the challenges of development. After all, everybody expects our governments to put measures in place to ensure happiness for majority of our people.
The essence of governance is to improve the lot of the people and it is for this reason that we expect the political forces to rally to turn the fortunes of the country for the better in 2014.
We wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and, indeed, all Ghanaians a Prosperous New Year.
