The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has called on the Presbyterian Church and other religious bodies to promote religious tolerance and peaceful co-existence among citizens.
He admonished religious bodies to help ensure national cohesion and peace in Ghana in the face of the increasing instability in the West African sub-region.
“As you are aware, the peace and stability in many nations around us is coming under attack from multiple sources including religious extremism and intolerance and we must guard against that,” the Vice President said.
The Vice President was speaking at a special thanksgiving service to climax the centenary celebrations of the Akuapem Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at Akropong Akuapem.
The service was attended by a large number of senior clergymen of the Presbyterian church including the Rev. Dr. Godwin Nii Noi Odonkor, the Clerk of the General Assembly, the Rev. Ishmael Dometey Asare, Chairperson of the Akuapem Presbytery, Chairpersons of other Presbyteries as well as representatives of sister churches.
Among the members of the Vice President’s entourage were the Minister for Local Government and Rural Government and MP for Okere, Hon. Dan Botwe, the Eastern Regional Minister, Hon Seth Acheampong, Hon O. B. Amoah, MP for Akuapem South and Deputy Minister for Local Government, Hon. Nana Ama Dokua Asiama Adjei, the MP for Akuapem North and Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, as well as all Municipal and District Chief Executives within the Presbytery’s operational area.
Other guests at the service were Mrs Sophia Akuffo, the immediate Former Chief Justice of Ghana and Gloria Akuffo, the immediate former Minister of Justice and Attorney General who are both members of the church.
The Vice President recounted that the Presbyterian Church has made significant contributions in the areas of education, healthcare delivery, agriculture and human resource development and noted that their interventions has led to several developments in the country.
He praised the church for its holistic education grounded on values such as discipline, hard work and integrity and mentioned that in his work he has come across some Presbyterians who exhibit such values without a fault.
The Vice President mentioned the church’s provision of facilities such as staff accommodation in its educational institutions as well as other support for its health institutions as well as good social services that was worthy of emulation.
To mark the centenary celebration, the Akuapem Presbytery has initiated the construction of a Junior High School for the Kwaboanta community in the Ayensuano District.
Preaching the sermon at the service, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Rt. Rev. Prof Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, outlined several ways in which the church has contributed to national development.
“These include developing the orthography of the Twi and Ga languages, agricultural development such as the development of the cocoa industry,” he said.
Rev Prof Mantey noted that, the mission of the church in its diverse forms was a witness to the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ who is the light of the world and added that sin plunged into the world and it took only the light of Jesus Christ to dispel the deeds of darkness.
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, AKROPONG
