By Frank Amponsah
The President, His Excellence Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has stressed that considering that Ghana is by the Constitution, a secular Republic there is the need to build the National Cathedral to the glory and honour God.
According to the President, majority of Ghanaians are of the firm view that God is the directing agency of the Country’s affairs and that as government, “our sacred duty to God, and to man, is to help build in Ghana a society founded on the values of equity and fairness, and an economy that will bring progress and prosperity to our people, and lift them out of poverty.”
The President was addressing the 125th Anniversary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, yesterday, at the Black Star Square, where he enumerated that Ghana can achieve prosperity and progress through hard work, animated by a sense of enterprise, creativity and innovation, and with a determination to fight corruption in public life.
He said, “That is the path that will lead us to the national transformation we desire, and that is the path my Government has been treading over the last twenty-two (22) months. I took, then, a solemn oath, at this same venue, to serve our nation and to improve the living standards of the Ghanaian people. I shall, with God’s guidance, continue to do my best to live up to my oath of office.”
H also indicated that his government is determined to build a self-reliant Ghana, which would look to the proper use of her own resources in providing a dignified standard of living for her people, quoting from the Bible, Ecclesiastes Chapter eleven (11), verse four (4), which reads “If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never sow anything and never harvest anything,” he said “Ghana will make it, I am confident of that.”
President Akufo-Addo also averred that government will need the support of the Catholic Church and the entire Christian community, as well as of all religious people, to be able to push all the programmes and policies forward.
He said the Catholic Church has survived the yellow fever epidemic of the late 19th century that killed some of its first missionaries, rebuilt its structures after the earthquake of 1939, and has grown to become one of the most important institutions in Ghana.
He commended the efforts of the Catholic Church for building many of the institutions in the country, saying it is “one single institution, outside of Government, that has built so many healthcare facilities such as hospitals and clinics, in Ghana. We treasure very much this partnership between State and Church, and I pray for God’s continuing blessings on this Church.”
He is hopeful that the programmes and policies being rolled out and which were once described as overly-ambitious and not feasible by including the Free SHS, “Planting for Food and Jobs”, “One District, One Factory”, “One Village, One Dam”, and the development of our rail and road infrastructure, amongst others, will be implemented to the benefit to the Ghanaian people.
The execution of these policies, he said will help lead us onto the path of progress and prosperity.
He charged the Church to remember always the last earthly directive of Jesus Christ which entreated them to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
He also urged them to renew their commitment to evangelism and asked them to pray for Ghana, for him, and the government so that God will grant them compassion, courage, strength and wisdom to administer the affairs of this nation to the benefit of the Ghanaian people and the glory of God.
