As the festive season draws near, Ghanaians, as well as political leaders have been advised to develop attitudes that would help promote national development.
According to some religious leaders, the world faces a number of challenges such as corruption, injustice, poverty, health issues, such as the outbreak of COVID-19, among others.
These challenges, they said, could be overcome if the citizenry, as well as political leaders develop a positive attitude which would transform the country.
They made the call at the third edition of “Conversations in the Cathedral” held at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra yesterday.
The annual ecumenical dialogue, under the patronage of Archbishop John Bonaventure Kwofie, Catholic Archbishop of Accra, brought together Christians from diverse denominations to discuss issues of common concern.
This year’s dialogue was on the theme: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light (Isaiah 9:2).”
Speaking on the theme, a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, Rev. Fr Eric Oduro-Wiafe, said there was the need for the transformation of the hearts and minds of Ghanaians to curb the current rise in ritual murders, corruption, armed robbery, carnage on the roads and monetisation of the church.
According to him, the church should take the front seat in bringing transformation to Ghanaians by using their pulpit to draw the attention of its members on the importance of exhibiting good manners and how that could help transform the country positively.
“The clergy should take the front stage to eliminate the things of our country where there is darkness,” he said.
The darkness he said, represented current issues Ghana and the world at large faces which include violence, examination malpractice, injustice, corruption, among others.
According to Rev. Fr Oduro-Wiafe, the world kept on witnessing some changes which were facilitated by technology advancement among others, which in a way had contributed to the increasing number of challenges the world currently faces.
Meanwhile, he noted that despite the challenges, such as corruption, examination malpractice, injustice, among others that the technological transformation had brought into the world, it could be used also in a way that could impact the country positively.
He further said the country could overcome these challenges by tackling unemployment head on, having a purposeful development plan, weeding out fake Christian pastors and taking hard decisions that would transform the country.
The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Rev. Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo, on his part professed that the ignorance by some Ghanaians, political leaders and religious leaders was one when not addressed could affect the country negatively.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY & JESSEL LARTEY THERSON-COFIE