A former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr Kwabena Opuni Frimpong, has advised state institutions not to allow themselves to be influenced and politicised by politicians in the country.
He said due to their enormous mandate to ensure checks and balance, indispensable for good democratic governance, allowing themselves to be politicised would cause the public to lose confidence in them and that would not auger well for Ghana’s democracy.
“State institutions must not give an impression that they are at one side of the political divide all the time else the public will lose confidence in them which is dangerous to sustaining our democracy. We must be careful not to over politicise our state institutions,” he said.
Delivering a lecture in Koforidua last Friday, Rev. Dr Opuni Frimpong said “It is necessary that state institutions be seen as fair in all issues in order to sustain the democracy of the country as well as public confidence.”
The public lecture was organised by the Akuapem Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana as part of activities marking the centenary anniversary of the church.
The event, which attracted many church members and non-church members, was on the theme: “The church as an agent for consolidating democracy, economic transformation and social equity in Ghana: Prospects and challenges”.
Buttressing his call for state institutions to guard against being politicised, Rev. Dr Opuni Frimpong cited the recent comments made by the Minister for National Security, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, who stated that Ghanaians would start accusing the judiciary and would not have confidence in them if the interpretation of the law was tilted in the government’s favour all the time.
“The comment should be a caution to all of us,” Rev. Opuni Frimpong said, expressing worry that the emergence of over politicisation of state institutions which encouraged what he called dictatorship of the majority, where the majority in government appeared to carry the day in any issue all the time.
In his view, dictatorship of the majority was equally dangerous much like dictatorship the military posed to the country’s democracy.
“Church leaders must be objective and fair in their comments and say it as it is for the benefit of the whole country,” he advised.
For his part, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Seth Acheampong, said such public lectures were necessary to educate Christians in government and to build their capacity for the development of the country.
“We need to also ensure that we abide by the basic principles of life that we are taught by our church leaders in our church services and I believe if we do as Christians we will go through a certain pathway that would transform our beautiful republic for the better,” he stated.
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, KOFORIDUA
