Ghanaians must take hold of the economy - Christian Council

Accra, Aug. 19, GNA - The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) on Tuesday expressed concern about foreigners taking hold of the economy and other strategic national entities to the detriment of Ghanaians. "The country is being run by foreigners; it's becoming increasingly difficult for Ghanaians to run business in their own country, but developed and advanced countries were built by the indigenous people. "Foreigners come here and assume control of the economic sector, from banking through to petty trading.and are now infiltrating into the political terrain; this is dangerous for the development of the country," the Council stated during an interaction with the leading members of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) in Accra.

The Right Reverend Dr Yaw Frimpong Manso, Chairman of the Christian Council, who led the discussion also expressed reservation about the political tagging of personalities who spoke their mind.

"Anytime you express your candid opinion depending on what you say, you are either tagged as New Patriotic Party (NPP) or National Democratic Congress (NDC) activist.

"This is dissuading meaningful non-political persons to genuinely contribute to national debate and offer alternative ideas."

The Council also expressed apprehension about the recent development on the political field particularly the hiccups that characterised the recent limited voter registration.

Rt. Rev. Frimpong Manso said: "If just the registration of electorate degenerates into violence, breach of the Political Parties Election 2008 Code of Conduct and other infractions, then God save Ghana; we cannot anticipate what will happen on Election Day.

"The Christian community is not happy about this mayhem, intimidation, antagonism and political animosity among the political parties.we are advising our members to shun from politicians who engage in personality attacks and other undemocratic tendencies. Ghanaians need peace and stability to develop."

The Christian Council noted with reservation the bloating of the voter's register and advised the Electoral Commission (EC) to put in place mechanisms to ensure that the register was cleared of all unqualified names before December 7 election.

He urged Government to resource the EC adequately, avoid interfering with the operations of the EC and create a level playing field for political engagement of all flag bearers and political parties.

The Rt. Rev Dr Paul Fynn, former Chairman of the Council, also advised politicians to focus on issues instead of engaging in personality attacks, address issues affecting the people, high cost of living, inflation, unemployment and provision of social amenities.

"We detest politicians who attack personalities, but appreciate those who propagate on issues.personality attacks distract voters but issue-based politicking attracts floating voters," he said, and urged political leaders to advise their followers to stop the attacks.

Mr Emmanuel Ansah Antwi, DFP flag bearer, outlined that the party's blueprint for contesting the December polls. The blueprint focuses on agricultural development, provision of subsidy to farmers, youth development, health, national security, prudent economic management, role of chiefs in local governance, adherence to the rule of law, and tenets of good governance. Dr Obed Asamoah, DFP life patron, said the bloating of the voters' register posed a serious challenge to the country, "as it will create problem for acceptability of the election results".

He called for collaboration between the Church and the political parties to ensure that the church injected moral and spiritual behavious into the political environment. The DFP delegation included Mr Bede Ziedeng, General Secretary; Mr John Amekah, Deputy General Secretary; Mr Kwaku Baah, National Chairman and Greater Accra regional executives. 19 Aug. 08