The National Director of Evangelism of the E.P.Church, Ghana, Rev. Emmanuel Antwi-Tumfuor, has called on politicians to let their campaigns ahead of the 2020 elections be based on issues.
“We have numerous problems as a country and there is the need for our politicians to stop the blame game and rather bring up workable or practical solutions through consensus building. Nation building demands that our leaders pull everybody along. Let all Ghanaians feel that they belong to the nation building agenda,” he said.
In his New Year’s message, Rev. Antwi-Tumfuor, who is also the Pastor in-charge of the Tema West District of the E.P. Church, Ghana, noted that one disturbing issue in the country’s attempt at consolidating constitutional rule was how some Ghanaians vilified and bastardised state institutions and their management staff.
Management
“We can disagree with the styles of management but there should be constructive criticism in a decorous manner.
“It is sad that the same citizens who are in charge of these state institutions that we tend to vilify for political expediency are celebrated in other countries when they get the opportunity to serve international institutions abroad. How long can we keep doing this to our compatriots just to score cheap political points or for political expediency,” he asked.
Rev. Antwi-Tumfuor called on members of the Kekeli congregation in Tema to pray to eradicate such negative attitudes which did not encourage well-meaning citizens to accept appointments to manage state institutions.
“Can you imagine seeing respected members of our congregations being called all sorts of derogatory names just because they insist the right thing should be done in institutions they might have been appointed to?
“I am by no stretch of imagination saying that we should not keep managers of our state institutions or those in government on their toes to work efficiently. Let us criticise them in a loving manner instead of insulting them,” he said.
Transparency
Rev. Antwi-Tumfuor reminded persons at the helm of affairs of governance, state institutions and also churches and other religious bodies to let transparency and accountability be their watch words.
Transparency and accountability, he said, must reflect in the lives of Ghanaians.
“When we uphold transparency and accountability, it clears misconception or doubts that people may have about any action or decision. Our Churches and religious gatherings must be the rallying grounds to remind ourselves to be transparent and accountable in our actions so that we can promote unity to propel development,” he said.
Development
Rev. Antwi-Tumfuor charged Ghanaians to pursue national development policies and programmes and not political party development policies and programmes,” adding that “if we have this philosophy that development is a process, then continuation of projects and programmes started by previous governments should not be seen as doing any community a favour. After all, any responsible government must ensure that projects and programmes are not abandoned looking at the investments that go into them”.
