The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has re-emphasised the need for the strengthening of relationship between the Church and the State which he said, will help in the construction of a progressive and prosperous country.
“Our nation relies on you (the Church) to inform your congregants on nation-building for them to see the importance of the social implication of the Gospel as it relates to national cohesion and development and the relationship between spirituality and work ethics.”
Speaking at the 28th National and 16th Biennial Congress of the National Union of Ghana Catholic Diocesan Priests Association on Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo reiterated his strong belief in the “positive relationship between Church and State”.
“In the course of my presidency, I have relied on your support in seeking your intercession to address the myriad of challenges that we have gone through together as a nation, prominent among which was the management of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo continued, “You would recall that, on March 19, 2022, I hosted a breakfast meeting for all religious leaders at the presidency, during which I entreated the need ‘for us to join together and pray to the Almighty God to protect our nation, heal this land and save us from this pandemic.’ God heard us.”
The President thus continued to ask the Church to pray for the country “so that we can surmount the current socioeconomic challenges we face together”.
As President of the Republic, he reiterated his determination to see a prosperous Ghana where justice and peace embrace, where the common good is safeguarded and promoted, where the bonds of fraternity, as called for by His Holiness Pope Francis in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti.
As a fully committed democrat, he re-assured the gathering of his commitment to ensure that Ghana continues to travel down the path of democratic engagement on which the country has embarked for the last 30 years of the 4th Republic.
“It is important that all of us, priests and laymen, continue to uphold the democratic values whose application has produced this healthy result, and which provide us with the most effective means of resolving our contemporary difficulties and, thereby, preserving the freedom, progress, stability and unity of our nation,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo also urged the Church to continue to preach and teach about the need for solidarity, a key tenet of Catholic social teachings, which emphasizes the “firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual because we are all really responsible for all.”
“We need it as a nation in these times. From the pulpit, do encourage hard work, understanding work as a vocation, and patriotism as a virtue that Ghanaians must continue to embrace this new year and beyond so that Ghana will remain a shining star of Africa and a key player on the world stage,” he said.
The changing milieu in which the world finds itself, indeed, President Akufo-Addo said, depicts that as every institution matures over the course of time, it must definitely take stock of the structures that guide its operations.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has stated that Akonta Mining has done no wrong saying that the company was not involved in any illegal mining activities anywhere in the country.
“Let me respond briefly to the chairperson on the issue of illegal mining. I want to assure him and all of you that Akonta Mining is not engaged in any illegal activities in any part of the country as we speak,” he said.
“Further, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has, through the Forestry Commission and with the assistance of the military, cordoned off all 294 sites of forest reserves in the country and rid them of illegal mining as we speak,” President Akufo-Addo added.
BY TIMES REPORTER