The Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Kwaku Asante, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, on Sunday, said Ghana stood to win despite the outcome of the Supreme Court’s judgment on the 2012 presidential election petition.
He said: “Ghana is at the crossroads” as it awaits the pronouncement of the Supreme Court about the petition on Thursday August 29, emphasizing that “Democracy would win, the Rule of Law would prevail and justice would take its course”.
Most Rev. Prof. Asante, who is also the Chairman of the National Peace Council (NPC), made the declaration during a sermon at a thanksgiving service for the closure of the Church’s seventh Expanded General Purpose Council (EGPC) Meeting in Sunyani.
The four-day meeting, attended by both the top hierarchy of the clergy and laity, prepared the grounds for the Church’s biennial Connexional Conference due to be held next year.
The occasion also marked the ordination of 57 candidates of the Church from all over the country as full-fledged recognized ministers, who had served three years probation after their commissioning into the Ministry of God in the Methodist Church of Ghana.
The NPC Chair said the 1992 Constitution of Ghana stated that justice would emanate from the people, but it would be administered by the Judiciary in the name of the State.
Most Rev. Prof. Asante said “as a nation, we must abide by the rules and verdict of the courts, but not to take arms and fight among ourselves,” because “God created Ghana and owns Ghana, so we have no business to destroy it”.
He condemned the use of hate speeches, foul languages and unguarded statements by the citizenry, advising that the country belonged to the youth hence they must not allow themselves to be used by politicians in taking arms to cause mayhem and violence.
“The nation does not belong to politicians, so we must not let them take us for granted”, the NPC Chair said, adding that justice and peace must prevail in the country, no matter where the verdict would go.
The Presiding Bishop earlier reminded the ordained Ministers of God that the pastoral ministry was not meant for them to enrich themselves, but sacrifice for the cause of the people because “God has called us to serve but not to be served and to give, but not to take”.
The meeting issued a communiqué jointly signed by Most Rev. Prof Asante, the Right Rev. Dr. Kwaku Asamoah-Okyere, the Administrative Bishop of the Church and Mr. John Ekwan Kweku Pratt, the Church’s Lay President.
It urged members of the Church to embark on evangelism through education, saying that they must not to forget the Church’s core business of making disciples of all nations.
The communiqué reiterated the Christian Council of Ghana’s call on all political parties and their followers to accept the Court’s verdict on the Presidential Election dispute and to desist from any acts of violence.
