Ghana needs selfless leaders - Duncan-Williams, Monday, January 2, 2012, Pg 13
THE General Overseer of the Action Faith Ministries, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, has advised Ghanaians to use track record as the benchmark for voting in the 2012 elections.
“We need selfless leaders that care for the people to the extent that they can make sacrifices for the next generation,” he stated.
The Archbishop who had an interaction with the media in Accra condemned the insults that had eaten deep into the country’s political fibre.
He observed that contrary to claims that politicians were the only people involved in the insult spree, it also had to do with a section of the populace.
“Today, it is common for people to just insult and dishonour persons in leadership and authority and it is rampant on our radio and television programmes. It is very sad.”
“We are allowing western culture to adulterate our culture, where people in the name of freedom of speech and expression can just say anything and we have no respect for the elderly anymore. We don’t have respect for anybody.”
“We must realise that we don’t have to just be excited about freedom of speech as freedom of speech without responsibility is dangerous. We have to act with a sense of responsibility with the freedom we have,” the Archbishop said.
“We may have people in authority we don’t like, we may not approve of their style of leadership, but that does not authorise us to dishonour them. There are many ways to deal with them and one wrong way to do that is to publicly dishonour and disrespect them. To dishonour and disrespect them is dishonouring the office they occupy,” he said.
“It should not be that I can say anything I want, I can insult anyone no matter what it takes. There are consequences.”
He cited the example of the Rwandan genocide as an example of conflict flamed by comments of radio, saying “even though there were other undercurrents, unguarded utterances worsened the situation.”
Archbishop Duncan-Williams, therefore, called on whoever loses the next year’s election to accept defeat graciously adding that “no matter what happens, we cannot divide this nation.”
“When it comes to the peace and stability of Ghana, our politicians and political parties must understand clearly that the country cannot be divided like what happened in other countries.”
He had a lot more advice for the politicians. “Be honest, be transparent, and don’t go through any short cut because every short cut will cut you short and if you win praise God. If you lose, for Ghana’s sake, be honourable and humble enough to accept that ‘I gave it my best shot and it did not happen. May be it is my time but not my turn, I will wait for another time or wait for another generation to take over.’”
He, however, said in spite of the complexities in this year’s elections, there were good prospects for the country and was optimistic that God would intervene to navigate this year’s election successfully.
“If we successfully go through the 2012 elections without the violence that is being predicted and avoid all the impending dangers, and get the winner doing so in a transparent and honest way that everybody sees, even though 2012/2013 is shaky, if we manage to scale through the elections, Ghana will fly,” he noted.
The Archbishop, who is also the Chairman of the National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches (NACCC), said the organisation as part of its civic responsibility would encourage members of its congregation to register and vote in the 2012 elections and also educate them on the need to avoid anything that could undermine the country’s peace.
On the economy, Archbishop Duncan-Williams said his expectation was that the country would make good use of revenue from oil to push development.
“As much as the oil is a blessing, we have to be careful it does not reduce the creativity and productivity of Ghanaians where everybody thinks that we have oil and it would automatically translate into the well-being of all,” he stated.
He cited the example of Nigeria and Angola which had so much oil but it had not brought progress to their people.
“People don’t have electricity and water, yet the wealth is in the hands of just a few people. We have to move away from that mentality where only few people are enriched with the country’s wealth while the majority is impoverished.”
“We need selfless leaders that care for the people to the extent that they can make sacrifices for the next generation,” he stated.
The Archbishop who had an interaction with the media in Accra condemned the insults that had eaten deep into the country’s political fibre.
He observed that contrary to claims that politicians were the only people involved in the insult spree, it also had to do with a section of the populace.
“Today, it is common for people to just insult and dishonour persons in leadership and authority and it is rampant on our radio and television programmes. It is very sad.”
“We are allowing western culture to adulterate our culture, where people in the name of freedom of speech and expression can just say anything and we have no respect for the elderly anymore. We don’t have respect for anybody.”
“We must realise that we don’t have to just be excited about freedom of speech as freedom of speech without responsibility is dangerous. We have to act with a sense of responsibility with the freedom we have,” the Archbishop said.
“We may have people in authority we don’t like, we may not approve of their style of leadership, but that does not authorise us to dishonour them. There are many ways to deal with them and one wrong way to do that is to publicly dishonour and disrespect them. To dishonour and disrespect them is dishonouring the office they occupy,” he said.
“It should not be that I can say anything I want, I can insult anyone no matter what it takes. There are consequences.”
He cited the example of the Rwandan genocide as an example of conflict flamed by comments of radio, saying “even though there were other undercurrents, unguarded utterances worsened the situation.”
Archbishop Duncan-Williams, therefore, called on whoever loses the next year’s election to accept defeat graciously adding that “no matter what happens, we cannot divide this nation.”
“When it comes to the peace and stability of Ghana, our politicians and political parties must understand clearly that the country cannot be divided like what happened in other countries.”
He had a lot more advice for the politicians. “Be honest, be transparent, and don’t go through any short cut because every short cut will cut you short and if you win praise God. If you lose, for Ghana’s sake, be honourable and humble enough to accept that ‘I gave it my best shot and it did not happen. May be it is my time but not my turn, I will wait for another time or wait for another generation to take over.’”
He, however, said in spite of the complexities in this year’s elections, there were good prospects for the country and was optimistic that God would intervene to navigate this year’s election successfully.
“If we successfully go through the 2012 elections without the violence that is being predicted and avoid all the impending dangers, and get the winner doing so in a transparent and honest way that everybody sees, even though 2012/2013 is shaky, if we manage to scale through the elections, Ghana will fly,” he noted.
The Archbishop, who is also the Chairman of the National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches (NACCC), said the organisation as part of its civic responsibility would encourage members of its congregation to register and vote in the 2012 elections and also educate them on the need to avoid anything that could undermine the country’s peace.
On the economy, Archbishop Duncan-Williams said his expectation was that the country would make good use of revenue from oil to push development.
“As much as the oil is a blessing, we have to be careful it does not reduce the creativity and productivity of Ghanaians where everybody thinks that we have oil and it would automatically translate into the well-being of all,” he stated.
He cited the example of Nigeria and Angola which had so much oil but it had not brought progress to their people.
“People don’t have electricity and water, yet the wealth is in the hands of just a few people. We have to move away from that mentality where only few people are enriched with the country’s wealth while the majority is impoverished.”
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