State, Church must collaborate to develop nation - Letsa
Volta Regional Minister Archibald Yao Letsa has asked the Church to fully support the government and its programmes to enable it to transform the nation into a beacon of hope for Africa.
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He said Ghana was a blessed nation and it could become an icon should all support the government and its policies to achieve the desired results.
He said the Church was a more privileged institution which could find many facilities, including land as a factor of production, and easily mobilise its flock to participate in government programmes such as Planting for Food and Jobs to create jobs and generate income.
Dr Letsa was addressing the 2017 mini-synod of the Global Evangelical Church (GEC) on the theme: “Thy Kingdom Come: Making Christ-like disciples”, at Ho-Fiave over the weekend.
Inputs for government programmes
He said inputs had been made available at all district offices of the Ministry of Agriculture and they would be readily supplied to all who were interested in large-scale farming, adding that provision had been made to reduce post-harvest losses, as well as store the excess farm produce.
Dr Letsa announced that appropriate consultations were ongoing towards resumption of work on deteriorated roads in the Volta Region, particularly the Eastern Corridor road and the Ho-Denu road and the construction of a dual carriageway.
He said two flagship projects earmarked for the region were a bridge over the River Oti at Dambai and a 15,000 capacity sports complex in Ho, adding that the bridge would reduce the time spent on the banks of the river when travelling between the north and the south of the region, while the sports complex would help unearth the huge sports potential in the region.
He also disclosed that affordable housing project and industrial zones had been earmarked for the southern, the middle and the northern parts of the region.
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Keynote address by Moderator
In his keynote address, the Moderator of the GEC, the Rt Rev. Dr S.K. Ofori, said the church had formed the Global Impact Foundation (GIF) and the Global Empowerment Union (GEU) as socio-economic development entities to improve the quality of life of members, create a vibrant economic environment, as well as eradicate poverty.
“The GIF and the GEU are opportunities for creating a passion for saving money in preparation for times of need,” he said.
The Rt Rev. Dr Ofori said the GIF had covered 2,800 beneficiaries with micro-finance services, while six more congregations had joined the GEU.
He said the hierarchy of the church and that of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church had agreed to consider the idea of reconciliation aimed at ending the conflict between them, saying that the conflict had consumed resources which could have been channelled into evangelism, discipleship and church growth-related ventures but had been spent on court expenses.
The moderator commended the government for the anti- galamsey crusade but said efforts should be made to arrest the rising canker of vigilantism and mob action which posed a threat to the prevailing peace and civility in the country.