We have observed the courage a segment of the cleric is mustering to confront the challenges facing the country today.
While we doff our hats for such men of God, we wish to encourage them to continue on this path and never be deterred by the flurry of invectives from persons who are salaried to do just this.
As men of God, we do not have to remind such hallowed personalities among us about how those before them suffered a litany of attacks, physical and psychological, at the hands of the iniquitous even as their work entailed admonishing both the leadership and the governed towards the path of righteousness.
What is more serious than usurping the wealth of the nation given to you to keep and manage in trust for the benefit of the people – which is what governance is all about?
The reckless management of the country’s resources by those at the helm and how the laws of the land regarding periodic changes through polls are breached constitute critical challenges for democracy.
As representatives of God and interpreters of the scriptures, it behoves the clerics to give hope to distressed Ghanaians, admonish them on what it takes to change their lot and not to allow their consciences to be bought for a pittance by vote-buyers.
. If such admonitions are what some term politics so be it: it is almost nonsensical when persons holding important spiritual positions are barred from discussing the plight of the men and women they nurture spiritually. We wonder what the clergy can achieve from administering the word of God when their flocks come to the church hungry and wondering where the next meal is going to come from or how they are going to garner money to pay for their utilities and fees for their wards.
Administering the word of God is as important as ensuring that the flock is healthy and does not suffer from want through reckless management of the affairs of the land by the government.
The consistency with which such clerics have endured the insults from political activists who the cap fits is amazing and unworthy of reproducing here.
We are constrained to recall the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev Prof Emmanuel Martey’s call, “Wise Men of the Land Where art thou?” The country is in crisis; the ship of state is floundering in choppy economic and governance waters even as those at the helm pretend all is well.
Rev Fr Emmanuel Abbey-Quaye, in his keynote address during the 2016 Bible Week Celebration, said it all about the Ghanaian situation when he expressed concern about the spate of propaganda, intemperate language and corruption in the country, not forgetting the incidence of vote-buying. Those who use propaganda and intimidation to seek political power should be rejected, he said, and we could not agree more with him. It is the bad choices people make during elections which determine the quality of the next four years.
The average Ghanaian worker who feels the brunt will certainly scream at those who, in pursuit of their propaganda occupation, spew all manner of tales about imaginary government achievements.
