A Pastor
THE ODUMASE District Pastor of the Church of Pentecost in the Sunyani West district of the Brong Ahafo region, Rev. Daniel Onyame Tease, has appealed to all political parties contesting the December general elections not to do anything that would plunge the country into political mayhem.
He stated that apart from destroying the state’s economic and social infrastructure, political unrest would also lead to the looting and destruction of properties and normal human settlement and economic activities would be disrupted with a significant loss of human lives.
Pastor Onyame-Tease was preaching at Kwatire near Odumase to climax a five-day fasting and prayer session organized by the church aimed at promoting peaceful elections.
He noted that one of the fundamental impacts of conflict was the mass displacement of people and advised the contestants to eschew politics of insults that had the potential of causing political turmoil in December.
He urged politicians to think about the interest of the nation first before thinking about their political parties.
He expressed worry about situations where some clergy were tagged partisan when they stated their position on national issues.
On the role of the church in politics, Pastor Onyame-Tease said the church needed to recognize that it did have a role to play in politics.
According to him, the church needed to continue engaging government on issues such as justice, corruption, leadership, the economy, national debt, housing, education, healthcare, safety and security, policy and whatever else was morally important.
He said “the church needs to be saying “yes” as well as “no” to governmental promises and policies and that it had to clearly oppose wrongdoing, corruption, or anything else deemed unedifying and non beneficial to society.
Likewise, he stated the church must support commitments to fulfilling promises made to curb crime, make education a prime target for development and healthcare more accessible to all.
From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani
