Rashid Pelpuo must apologise to clergy - Rev. Asante

Most Reverend Prof Emmanuel Asante, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, has demanded an unqualified apology from the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Abdul Raship Pelpuo, for describing as unnecessary the meeting between religious leaders and the political parties over intended creation of the 45 new constituencies.

According to Rev. Prof. Asante, the comments by Hon. Rashid Pelpuo were distasteful and should not have been made by him. “Have we issued any statement for somebody to be bashing us this way? I think we deserve an apology from that honourable [Deputy Majority Leader].”

Hon. Rashid Pelpuo reportedly stated on Joy FM over the weekend that the meeting brokered by the religious leaders with the political parties on the 45 new constituencies, amounted to meddling in constitutional matters.

He said the meeting was unnecessary and that the clergy should have allowed the process to end before making any pronouncements on the matter due to the level of respect they command among Ghanaians.

But in an interview with Radio XYZ 93.1 FM on Monday, Rev. Prof. Asante said it is ignorant for anyone to say that religious leaders should stay off politics and that “Christianity or religion that has nothing to say about the political situation of the people is not worth its salt.”

Rev Asante said, “the church itself is a microcosm of Ghana. There are different parties represented in the Presbyterian Church, Methodist Church and Catholic Church. It will be wrong for any leader to stand for any party because our churches are multi-party churches.”

According to Rev. Prof. Asante, the religious leaders only wanted to build a consensus among the political parties on the matter due to the way the issue was breeding so much animosity between various groups.

“One of the greatest problems facing this country is the polarization of this country into different political parties. When are we going to speak as Ghanaians concerned about the welfare of Ghana?” he asked.

“We have not done this with any malice because we believe we represent a constituency; a greater majority of Ghanaians. We have done this because we believe it will create the atmosphere of peace for these elections. We do not want people to have a pretext to reject the election, to create violence so that Ghana will be on fire,” he explained.

The Man of God said, there is no merit to the accusation that some members of the clergy are engaged in partisan politics. He however stressed that any member of the clergy believed to be involved in partisan politics should be named and shamed because it is not right.

“I think we should avoid this fallacy of generalization. One person doing something and people generalizing that it affects all.”

Sharing his personal opinion on the matter, Rev. Prof. Asante said he has read the constitution which gives the right of creating constituencies to only the Electoral Commission, but he adds that “I have also read the scripture which says that ‘all things are lawful, all things are not expedient’. Whatever we do, we must do so in such a way that it doesn’t create confusion.”

He urged Ghanaians to keep cool heads on such a matter as a middle ground is sought ahead of the elections

“I would wish that there would be consensus on the part of the parties so that whether it is created or whether it is not created, somebody would not use it as a pretext to reject the election or to create violence. My beef is the peace of Ghana,” Rev. Prof. Asante posited.