My dream was to become a medical doctor - Most Rev. Philip Naameh 

Last December, the Political Editor of the Daily Graphic, Albert K. Salia (AKS), caught up with the current President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Most Reverend Philip Naameh (PN), at the National Catholic Secretariat, where he engaged him in a no holds barred interview from his calling as a priest to very key governance issues.

Below are excerpts of the interview.

Albert K. Salia (AKS): Your Grace, good afternoon and thank you once again for the opportunity to have this interaction with you.
To start with, we want to find out who your Excellency, Most Reverend Philip Naameh is.

Most Reverend Philip Naameh (PN): I come from a small village, five miles from Nandom. It is called Zumuopare and my father was among the early converts when the missionaries came to Jirapa. I was born as a son of a catechist and the catechists were the very close collaborators of the missionaries and reaching out the word of God to the people there.

The advantage of being a catechist’s son was that we were the preferred children for formal education. I went to middle school form one at Ko and by some good fortune, I was able to pass the minor seminary examination which was conducted for the whole of Upper West at that time and also for Upper East.

So I passed and I went to the St Charles Minor Seminary in 1963 and I finished there in 1968. From St Charles, I went to the Tamale Secondary School from 1968 to 1970. And then, I went to the St Victor’s Major Seminary from 1971 to 1976 when I was ordained deacon and in 1977, I was ordained priest.

AKS: So what were some of your dreams when you were growing up?

PN: Well, as a catechist son, my dream was what my dad constantly knocked into our heads. This world is finite and the world after is infinite and, therefore, to live your life in a way that it pleases God, you needed to be of service to people.

Don't think so much about yourself. So selflessness and the needs of others was what my parents tried to drive home to us. Whatever you decided to do, you try to see which of your actions will be of the best service for other people.

I wanted to do medicine and even when I went to the seminary, it was still haunting me. So that was a struggle. On the one side, when you see what the church was doing, the church was the one doing and providing almost everything to the people there. If it is education or health care, it was the missionaries who were doing that and as a small boy, that was the only thing that we saw or knew.

AKS: So, was becoming a priest part of your dreams as you were growing up?

PN: It was definitely. The priests were the only people we saw who promoted the welfare of the people there.

AKS: Which parish did you start with as a parish priest?

PN: I didn't become a parish priest. When I came back from studies, I was sent to the major seminary to teach but I helped out in a number of parishes at the weekends.

AKS: Do you have any regrets joining the priesthood?

PN: Not at all, not at all. As somebody will say, if I'm given the chance, I'll become a priest again. Society was very respectful of priests at the time and also the notion of the priesthood that was given to us is like total self-abandonment for the sake of the people of God. You know Mass tipping was not anything to talk about like today.

My good luck in this whole enterprise is that, I had elder brothers who went to school before me and who did very well in education. One of them went to Belgium and studied philosophy. He also intended to be a priest but by the time he returned from Belgium, he changed his mind.

But he was a teacher. The one who followed me, he also became a teacher and later did his PhD in France and was teaching at a university in Liberia. There was another who was also a teacher. So all these were taking care of the material needs of the family and nobody really expected anything material or financial from me.

And my younger sister also became a religious nun. She's still alive but my brothers who were senior have all passed. Being a priest was like an ever-standing dream. I became shaky when my mother said that she would have wished that one of us would become a medical doctor to assist her in her frequent sicknesses. I actually gave a thought to that but it didn't last.

I know when the archbishop asked me what would you like to study, I want to send you to Germany, I said medicine. He laughed and said, Philip, you know, this medicine, any lay person could go and do it but if you are to dedicate yourself totally to preaching the word and teaching the faith, it will help. So you leave the medicine to lay people. That's how he just killed my desire to become a doctor.

AKS: I asked, if you have any regrets becoming a priest and if you were going to even consider it again because these days, you'll find that the younger generation have become so materialistic. We also have instances where priests are accused of acquiring so much wealth and that's why I asked that question.

PN: It's justified. Even we ourselves see it. But what I want to state here is that, the lay people are very watchful. What I noticed as a young priest even before I went for studies was that, if you are available to answer their questions, you visit their homes, anytime they need a priest, you are there, you also will not lack anything as a priest.

So it became clear to me that if you give yourself in service totally to God's people, they will take good care of you. You don't need to make a farm. Because that farm will take you away and will make you unavailable to the people. You don't need to engage in any business venture but be totally there for God's people.

This is what I learnt even before I went out for studies. And coming back from studies, it was the same thing, people came and said you are going home now, what do you need? Even before you say it, they would have provided it beyond what you expected.
I remember the professor under whom I studied, he said you will need to move around whatever job your bishop will give you. I'm going to buy a car for you. So I came home with a car. My bishop didn't have to worry about giving me a means of transport. And I didn't beg for it.

AKS: How did you become the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference?

PN: Well, you know how it is. The office of the conference is an elected office. It is the bishops themselves who elect for a period of three years. You may be re-elected for another three years and not more. So I'm finishing my second term as president.

AKS: But it looks quite long. People think you have been there for 10 years.

PN: It's because I interact in a manner of space. They hear me talking about this and that, they think I have been there for ages. I was elected president in 2016 and then in Cape Coast, I was re-elected. So next year in Donkorkrom, I'll finish my second term of office.

AKS: Your Grace, what would you want to be remembered for as the president of the office of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference?

PN: Well you can be sure that the bishops will remember me for something more than the lay people. So you'll do your work. You go wherever you are called upon to represent the bishops. I feel that is my concern now but not to worry about what I'll be remembered for.

Wherever I go, I give the word of God, I represent the bishops and I give the concerns of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is present not only in the cities but in most remote villages, our priests are working there. And whenever we have our conference, we allow enough space for the bishops to share their experiences on a lot of issues.

That is why we are not good friends with any government. We know what is happening on the ground. You see, people are sitting outside under trees and learning without any learning materials. We visit the schools very often and we see that. And from our very meagre resources, very often we have to do something even though education is the duty of the state and their parents pay taxes to the government.

They don't pay taxes to the church. So it is the duty of the state to make educational facilities available to the ordinary Ghanaian. We know that if we want to go by this principle, many people who are our church members will never get educated. So we do what we can do for them.

AKS: Our people have also alluded to the fact that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference from the 70s, 80s and 90s is not the same as we have right now. They see the difference in the sense that, the Catholic Church was very vociferous on national issues and then also the way the church attended to affairs of the country was very frequent. Now, however, you'll see that apart from the pastoral letters once in a while, you maybe hold the conference and issue a communiqué.

PN: That is true and we cannot debate this. But one of the main reasons, especially the period that we were going through military regimes, nobody could say anything. The Catholic Church and the Catholic Standard were the only voices for the people. So it is no wonder that they would remember this time because we had to talk but now you people are there.

Most Rev. Philip Naameh, Archbishop of Tamale, stressing a point during the interview

The media landscape has completely changed and I think Ghanaians should recognise this. There are many media companies that are reporting on a daily basis what is happening in the country. There was a vacuum which we were filling.

Now our main concern is the morality and ethics of the media of today. The media landscape is everywhere and every small thing they are reporting but how are they reporting? That is what we are very concerned about now.

And this communication of insult for example, it doesn't go down well with us and this is what we take up now in our pastoral letters, in our communiqué and all of that because this one, the others can't do it.

But if we are talking about why we are not talking as we used to talk, I want Ghanaians to see the difference in terms of the period that we used to talk because nobody could talk. Do you see that clearly? But now it's a democracy and the media are there and they, I would say, are using and misusing their talent and it seems there is not a rigorous media administration to enable all of them to follow the rules.

So you will get media people coming and saying things with no ethical considerations and sometimes without even researching thoroughly on what they are putting out there. And they put half-truths into the space and we also feel that when it comes to media, that's not our competence. So it is not anytime that a media person gives a wrong message or did not well research his matter that we say.

We are not a kind of watchdog for the media. So we allow the media people to take each other on if they are going too far. If there is no decency, there is no truthfulness in the matter then we can come in, and we do come in when that is the case. I've also heard this complaint. For example, wherever we sense conflict we are not just writing in the air.

We try to engage the conflicting parties and we are not, as we say, looking for some credit before the Ghanaian populace and therefore we are not going to say the Catholic hierarchy engaged this group or that group on this issue. This is not relevant for us. The eventual goal we want is that, Ghana lives in peace.

AKS: So how would you describe the current political environment?

PN: The current political environment I would say is problematic. First of all, it appears to be departing from the tenets of democracy. If you look at what is happening in many aspects on the political front, it is very confrontational more than consensus building. This fact doesn't go down well with us (Bishops).

I think that if you are talking about the service of the common good, this is not the way to go. Service of the common good has to engage people in the government, the opposition, the non-governmental organisations, the religious bodies.

There should be a modality of frequently consulting all the stakeholders and the world of business should also come on board. But we don't see that. It looks like everything is, in fact I would say the current politics is polarising the country, dividing the country.

Our politicians behave as if everybody must be either NPP or NDC. And this is not the democratic culture. It is not sincerely a democratic culture and there are some who are even very loud and I'm not talking about just NPP which is in government now. It has been like that over the years.

If the NDC was in government, they don't say it but the tendency seems to be the same. Let's look after our own people first. Our foot soldiers, our card bearing members, before we can then turn to possible future voters.

So, we have a great need now in terms of youth unemployment. If I want to talk about that, there are people who have left school two years, three years and they have no jobs and there doesn't seem to be a strategic blueprint by any of our major parties to immediately absorb these youth and get them to creatively do something.

The NDC comes in and provides its own solutions and NPP comes in and comes up with new things. This culture of missing continuity is what is also damaging the country. They leave behind everything that the previous government has done almost to completion. I mean this is not a democratic culture. This does not serve the common good.

If somebody has built school blocks and it's just left with maybe opening them, why don't you just complete them, especially when it was funded with resources of the state. There's nothing like an NPP Ghana. We are one Ghana. Neither is there anything like NDC Ghana. We have one Ghana.

I think there must be a time to say that these people meant well. The people of Ghana have reposed their trust in us but whatever the previous government used the money for, it is the taxpayer’s money. So let us not waste this money, let us put it to good use and then begin our own. So it is a culture of waste and polarisation and that is not good.

Most Rev. Philip Naameh (right), Archbishop of Tamale, exchanging pleasantries with Mr Albert Salia, Political Editor, Daily Graphic after the interview. Picture: EDNA SALVO-KOTEY

AKS: So, what would you suggest?

PN: What I've said implicitly is suggesting that, they should stop what they are doing now. If you come into government after the other one has left after four years, recognise the fact that they also were contributing to the common good. And if they have not finished projects, please attend to those ones and put them to use your way. But don't just leave them lying down because you didn't do them. This is not a democratic culture.

AKS: Still on national issues, what do you think are the major challenges currently confronting the nation and what needs to be done?

PN: For me, it's the future of our youth. The next tragedy that I find is in the area of education. For me, it is this double or triple track system. I would say that the intention was good not to leave so many people walking about after JHS.
Access was highly increased but the quality of the teaching. I will say it is substandard. Because this free SHS had a lot of merits but, it was not patiently implemented. Rushing to implement it exposed a lot of loopholes, no adequate accommodation, no adequate teaching.

AKS: What is the church doing to address some of these challenges?

PN: You see, this is one of the frustrations of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference because they would not do it and they won't allow long-time partners of the government in education to do their bit. We have sent in memorandum and it's about 10 years.

It is a memorandum of understanding for the government to sign outlining the roles of the education partners, especially the Church. And this memorandum was not only produced by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Christian Council of Ghana was part of it, the Islamic Federation was part of it.

The roles are very clearly defined. Allow us to go ahead and give morality and discipline. Our Catholic schools are now degenerating, they are becoming like the public schools because, the government is not signing the memorandum. And we feel very demoralised about this.

It's as if they want indirectly to take over all the mission and unit schools. I mean it's like a certain power drunk policy, they want to take over everything of which we don't see the need. We have collaborated.

AKS: Your Grace, let me ask this; after your appearance before the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament on the LGBTQI thing, has your view or the views of the church changed on its position as to the legalisation of LGBTQ?

PN: It has not changed. Actually, before I go back, I want even to inaugurate a prayer which we want all Catholics to say against this LGBTQI.

AKS: And then also would you accept that the church of today, not necessarily the Catholic Church, but the church as in Christianity has become a money-making venture and also made some followers so lazy and looking for quick results in the things that they could have worked hard to achieve?

PN: I want to say yes and no. But the landscape of who is a Christian today has so broadened that you cannot describe all those using the Bible and mentioning the name of Jesus Christ. We cannot describe them with the same categories. I think this is where we as Christians need to engage one another.

There are pastors who have families and therefore they need to create securities for their wives and children but we as Catholics don't have. We are conscious of the fact that we are taken care of by the poor people. It's not the rich Catholics who are taking care of us. Sometimes, it is us the very poor ones.

You cannot seek to accumulate wealth in a very scandalous way but we as Christian pastors must begin to engage one another and to make credible our witness in terms of being ministers in the country, where over 50 per cent people are below the level of sustainability.

AKS: That leads to another question about celibacy in the Catholic Church. From your experience, from childhood to now, there have been arguments that now our priests should be allowed to marry because of the challenging situation of the environment in which they find themselves. Would you subscribe to it?

PN: What is the challenging situation that they did not know at the time they were becoming priest and said yes to celibacy. What has changed? It has always been. It's a human thing. God has made man and woman for one another, therefore, for a priest to be attracted to a beautiful lady and say I want to commune with this lady is one of the most normal things on this earth.

But we believe that there is in this world, what we call a hierarchy of values. I can give up this even though I consider it a great value in order to achieve something which is higher. That is all what it is.

AKS: Your Grace on a final note, what will you wish for Ghanaians and the country in the new year?

PN: Well, I wish Ghanaians peace and discipline on our roads. It makes no sense year after year the carnage on our roads. It doesn't really make sense, so I would wish for Ghanaians that there is peace, I would wish for Ghanaians that they don't hold entrenched positions on all matters that there is conflict. Let us throw away our egos and try to come closer to our Maker.

AKS: Your Grace we are most grateful.