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Rt.Rev. Kofi Asare Bediako - The Methodist Bishop of Sunyani addressing the gathering

Conscious actions needed to change country’s economic structure - Rt Rev. Asare-Bediako

The Bishop of the Sunyani Diocese of the Methodist Church, Right Reverend Kofi Asare-Bediako, has called on the government to put in measures to transform the unbridled import and unprocessed-produce export structure of the country’s economy.

“Though we yearn for investment from foreign sources we must muster the courage to be selective in the kind of industry such investors set up”, he said.

Rt Rev. Asare-Bediako, who was addressing this year’s synod of the diocese at Duayaw-Nkwanta in the Tano North District, observed that the continuous investment in alcoholic beverages and the conversion of staple foods such as cassava for the production of alcoholic beverages would soon worsen food supply and impoverish the nation.

Consumption and imports

The Sunyani Diocesan Bishop proposed that experts should be assembled to identify critical items of consumption and imports in which the country could have competitive production advantages and put forward proposals for their establishment.

Such industries, Rt Rev. Asare-Bediako said, must aim at mobilising funding from local sources as well as obtaining support from Ghanaians living abroad, adding that they could operate on joint venture basis for proper monitoring and supervision.

He explained that the government could provide the foreign exchange component as its share capital for the setting up of such industries and later sell the shares to private individuals  as soon as new areas of investments were identified.

“The Ghanaian economy would not survive in the world of competition if it remained import-driven with few unprocessed exports. Conscious and deliberate actions are needed to change the structure of the economy,” Rt Rev Asare-Bediako said.

Election 2016

Touching on the 2016 elections, Rt Rev. Asare-Bediako called a meeting of stakeholders to deliberate on and identify factors which evoke tensions, fears and acrimony that characterise the country’s presidential and parliamentary election.

“It is not an exaggeration to mention that the volatile conditions we experience at elections tend to destabilise the economy and have repercussions for the free fall of the cedi against the major currencies,” he stated.

He observed that the repatriation of capital by foreigners and transfer of funds by citizens during election periods put excessive pressure on the dollar and other major foreign currencies and eventually pushed the cedi to depreciation.

Rt Rev. Asare-Bediako called for the appreciation of the strengths and innate talents of one another by stakeholders to ensure that the best decisions were arrived at to propel national development.

Church Planting

Deliberating on the theme of the Synod: “Holistic Spirituality: Intensifying Church Planting Effort,” Rt Rev. Asare-Bediako said the growth of societies in the diocese from 230 to 286 within four years motivated the church to choose that theme.

He explained that the church population in the diocese currently stood at 43,612 and expressed the hope that the 50,000 earmarked could be met before his end of tenure.

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