Demonstrate peace, don’t just talk - Catholic Priest to politicians

Reverend Fr Sebastian Aduko, the Parish Priest of the Christ the King Catholic Church at Sandema in the Builsa North District of the Upper East Region has observed that most politicians call for peace in public, but secretly perpetuate violence.

“We have been talking about peace, which is very good. Even the politicians preach peace, but I think most of it is just lip-service. Behind that call for peace, they insight youngsters, give them money and we are back to square one.”

He said political leaders should not just call for peace, but should back such calls with actions, adding that they must call out their members who misbehave and discipline them to serve as deterrent to others.

The Parish Priest, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Sandema on the side line of the maiden edition of the District Election Security Taskforce meeting, further bemoaned the indecent language in the political space in Ghana.

“I have to admit that politics in Ghana now is a big shame. There is no decency among most politicians. There is no truth, and everything is geared towards prosperity and greed. “They want to build family empires, enrich themselves and also along party lines, and at the end, it is the whole country that suffers,” Reverend Fr Aduko said.

He said even though the Church was playing its role of preaching peace and the need for Ghanaians to coexist peacefully regardless of their political differences, “The politicians are destroying the country. Most of them have no heart for the nation.

“The police are playing their role, but there is no fairness in what they do, because they are influenced by the politicians. These politicians influence all sectors of the economy.”

According to him, Christian, Islamic and traditional leaders continued to encourage the youth to maintain the peace in the country, “But it is not enough to preach and tell people to maintain peace. If people are frustrated, if they are hungry, they have no jobs and so on, what do you expect?”

The Reverend Fr said in spite of the challenges of unemployment and poor living conditions, which pushed the youth into acts of violence, the Clergy would continue to appeal to the youth to be patient and abide by the laws of the country.

He admonished the youth to restrain themselves from alcohol consumption, saying “Most of them think that the best way to be happy is to go into alcohol consumption, wee smoking and other habits that are not good for them and for society.”

The District Election Security Taskforce program afforded officials of various political parties in this year’s elections to interact among themselves and effectively collaborate with other stakeholders for peaceful Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

The forum brought together officials of the Electoral Commission, political party leaders, and officials from the National Commission for Civic Education, security service personnel, youth groups and the media.