By Francis Kwabena Cofie
The General Overseer of Prayer Chapel International at Bubuashie in Accra, Bishop Dr. Benjamin Badu has admonished all well-meaning members of all levels of society to make the principle of integrity a key feature in their routines and day- to- day living.
He said if society and by extension our nation would progress, it takes a culture of integrity to turn the fortunes of the people and nation around.
He defined integrity as the quality of a person being honest, consciously adhering to a consistent and strong moral and ethical values and principles.
He gave the advice in an interview at the end of a three-day convention on the theme: “Integrity convention”, which sought to highlight the seeming absence of integrity in various segments of society including political leadership, civil society, the church, public sector among others.
According to him, after a pathology of the issue, it came to light that people have grown into leadership and public office without integrity being at the core of their development.
He said he conceived the topic and put it before the church to appreciate the consequences and benefits of integrity to help society change for the better.
He indicated that integrity has unduly become a foreign principle upon which certain people feel attacked anytime you raise it as if you do not want to give them the freedom to do as they wish.
One of the critical issues of integrity, he maintained, is that unless a person intently decides to cultivate integrity they can never have it.
Bishop Badu stated that, in certain situations, where people fail to practice or adhere to principles of integrity, law enforcement must force people to do what is right.
Integrity, he said, is never an inborn trait but a principle one must cultivate and be committed to at all times.
He described some attributes of Integrity as being ethical, committed, honest, dependable among others.
Citing a quotation in the bible, Proverb 11:3, which says “ a just man will be guided by his own integrity, but a person will be destroyed by their own perversion…”
The man of God stressed that God cannot engage us unless we walk in integrity which was equal to holiness in every sphere of life.
He pointed out that integrity is such that, you will stick by its principles even if it goes against your interest and comfort.
He stressed that the lack of integrity has a wider drawback to the stability and progress of society and the nation at large, adding, “ the word of God says in Galatians 6:7,8, “be not deceived for God is not mocked, whatever a man soweth, that shall he reap”.
He called for the church and educational stakeholders to play a key role in advocating for the incorporation of a concept on principles of integrity in the curriculum and teachings of young upcoming learners for a paradigm shift.
