Presby Church: We won't keep quiet over corruption, hardship, unemployment

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana has served notice it will continue to be critical on issues of corruption and bad governance which combine to impose economic hardship on the people.

According to the Presby Church, a church fails to remain relevant in the scheme of affairs of the country if it does to take interest in matters that affect the material well-being of the people.

It insists, "It does not make sense for the Church to resort to prayers and fasting when the solutions [to the nation's problems] can be found in commonsensical application of our human and natural resources for the good of society."

The Church says it is therefore solidly behind its Moderator when he provides a voice for the masses on issues that affect their wellbeing.

"A church which does not have interest in the affairs of the state is an irrelevant church. Economic hardship, corruption, unemployment, power and water crises, as well as many challenges that arise from bad governance also affect members of the church. For this reason, the Moderator deems it as a moral and religious obligation to point out to leadership of the nation (irrespective of which political party is in government) to do what is right and beneficial to the nation," the church has said in a statement.

The 'Setting the Records Straight' statement, issued by the PRO, George Ezekiel Larbi, was in reaction to comments made against the outgoing Moderator, Rt Rev Prof Emmanuel Martey, by former PRO Emmanuel Osei Acheampong, who was allegedly sacked for fraud and misrepresentation.

The statement indicated that "the Moderator will continue to speak up on the affairs of this country, and no amount of intimidation, malicious lies and verbal attacks will deter him from speaking the truth."

The Church made references from the Bible to support its position: "We, however, believe that the church should be interested in how the nation is governed and the clergy, like the Biblical Prophets of old, must be the moral conscience of society. Ezekiel 33:7-9 captures one of such charges: '7. Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8. When I say to the wicked, 'You wicked person, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die fora their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 9. But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved."

The statement was, however, quick to add that the church and its leadership are not affiliated to any political party, stressing, "The church and its leadership are non-partisan in nature. In fact, there are members of the Church in almost all political parties. There are members of the church who are ministers and other high government officials in every regime in this country. For this reason, the Church does not take sides."

The Church denied the claim by its former PRO that the outgoing Moderator was behind his sacking, after he together with the church had kicked against a statement he brought from one of the strongest political parties to be read to the public as a communiqué.

"The PR Unit also wants to put on record that the Communiqué of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana is not authored by the Moderator or the PRO of the church. It is authored by a committee called Committee on Church and Society who will then present it to the general Assembly which is the highest decision-making body of the church for approval.

"The communiqué is then presented to the general public by the Moderator on behalf of the church at a Press Conference. It is therefore false for Mr. Acheampong to claim that he was in charge of writing the communiqué and that the Moderator wanted him to write the views of a political party and he refused," the church stated.