Methodist Bishop deplores negative political rivalries

Wa, March 27, GNA - The Right Reverend Joseph Ato Brown, Bishop of the Northern Diocese of the Methodist Church, has deplored the tendency of Ghanaian politicians to highlight only the negative deeds of ruling governments just with the aim to dislodge it from power.

Such an obsession has led some people to describe politics as dirty, the Bishop said and stated that politics was meant for people to think and plan for the well being of people, adding that, "it only becomes dirty when dirty people engage in it".

The Rt. Rev. Brown was preaching at the Paul Adu Memorial Chapel at Wa on Sunday, at the induction of the Very Reverend Amos Justice Pobee as the Superintendent Minister of the Wa Circuit of the Church. He said every political leader of the country since Independence had been given a job to do by God but being human beings were bound to make mistakes.

The Bishop stated, however, that their mistakes should not be blown out of proportion to overshadow the good contribution to the development of the country.

"We should rejoice that God gave us Kwame Nkrumah, but he could not do all. God gave him to us for a period and for a purpose and all those that followed him had a purpose given by God," the Bishop said. He observed that the country now faced a "huge problem" of people wanting to get rich quickly without the society questioning the source and blamed the Church for acknowledging such wealth through fund raising and harvests.

"They look for people who would donate millions of cedis to chair such activities," the Bishop stated and said "Although the Church needs money to fund development projects it was not started with Businessmen and Contractors".

Bishop Brown noted that due to lack of employment opportunities in the country, many young people now looked up to the Church but academic excellence should be emphasized alongside one's level of spirituality, otherwise people who had actually been called by God may be turned away. He urged the new Superintendent Minister to try to lead people to Christ for salvation in his daily dealings with the society.

Mr Ambrose Dery, Upper West Regional Minister, expressed appreciation for the good work of the Methodist Church in the region and mentioned the Wa Methodist School for the Blind that was educating physically challenged members of the Society to contribute to national development.

The Regional Minister praised the Church and other religious organisations for their efforts in promoting sound moral principles, saying, "Without the you the nation would need 20 million Policemen for the 20 million people".

Mr Dery commended the Wa Methodist Church for its patience over the encroachment of its land by artisans and gave the assurance that a new location was being developed for them outside the town centre.