Church can engage in politics, not partisanship — Most Rev. Asante
The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel K. Asante, has described as a fallacy, the claims by a section of the public that the church should not engage in politics.
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Rather, he said, what the church should avoid was meddling in partisan politics.
Most Rev. Asante said it was the business of the church to contribute to the shaping of Ghana’s democratic process and by so doing, add its voice to the national development agenda.
He was addressing the eighth biennial and 46th conference of the Methodist Church, Ghana in Kumasi yesterday.
The four-day conference, which has the theme: “Witnessing to Christian – Teaching for effective Christian formation,” brought together Methodists to, among others, elect a new presiding bishop for the church.
Most Rev. Asante observed that the politics of exclusion was divisive and alienated people from participating in the governance process.
He also said the country’s political system was a participatory one and called for the strengthening of democratic institutions such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to spearhead the campaign to further deepen the democratic process.
He underscored the need for an effective decentralisation system that would put the country’s fledgling democratic system on a sound footing.
Energy/petroleum
The outgoing Presiding Bishop, who is also the Chairman of the National Peace Council (NPC), turned the spotlight on the energy sector and bemoaned the state of that sector, in view of the erratic electricity supply and the authorities’ inability to adequately deal with the challenges.
He said energy preservation was key to reversing the situation, and reducing the travelling done by government officials and other state functionaries could reduce their use of fuel and, by extension, debts accrued to the public purse.
He called for organisations to promote the use of teleconferencing, which enables people to sit at various locations and participate in programmes.
“We need to plan the use of vehicles to minimise travel duplication,” he added.
Most Rev. Asante asked the citizenry and church leaders particularly, to explore the use of other forms of energy such as solar in their bid to cut expenditure.
Health
On health, the clergyman sympathised with the countries that had been attacked by the Ebola disease and urged the government to do its best to ensure that Ghana did not become a victim.
He commended the government for the measures it had put in place so far to safeguard its borders against the pandemic.
Vice-President
The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, who is a Methodist, and was the guest of honour, commended Most Rev. Asante for his role as President of the NPC, which had maintained the peace in the country.
He said it behoved true Christians to contribute to the transformation of the society. He, therefore, asked them to let their lifestyles and roles in the society reflect true Christian values.
“Seek to be relevant to the issue of development by contributing to the development of the nation,” he charged all.
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