Day: May 21, 2023

Mr Foster Adase-Adjei, the ActionAid Ghana Programmes Officer for Volta and Oti regions, has urged women and persons with disability to develop a keen interest in the 2023 District Assembly and Unit Committee elections and participate in the contest.

He said their participation would help promote equality and inclusion in local governance, ensuring that no one was left behind in Ghana’s development.

As part of ActionAid Ghana’s (AAG) efforts towards women’s rights, the programmes team in the two regions were organising community-based sensitisation with a focus on women and persons with disability to propel them for the upcoming district-level elections.

Mr Adase-Adjei said this at Koru, a farming community in the Kadjebi District of the Oti Region, during a community engagement.

The NGO is collaborating with the Kadjebi District Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to have the exercise done.

‘Open literature had it that women and persons with disability are the most marginalised in our societies from decisions that affect their lives to access and control over resources,’ he said.

‘They are also discriminated against, deepening their vulnerability.’

‘We believe that when women too are given the opportunity to lead, they can change the very status quo that discriminates against them.’

Mr Daniel Agbesi Latsu, the Kadjebi District Director of the NCCE, said the Commission’s involvement in the programme was in fulfilment of Article 24 (2e) of the 1992 Constitution, to promote gender and disability balance in compliance with the Sustainable Development Goal Five (SDG 5).

He said voting was a constitutional right and to vote was a civic duty, in which everyone must participate fully.

‘The level of voter apathy and disinterest in the district level polls by the electorates, over the years, are a threat and setback to the development of democratic governance in the country,’ he said.

On qualifications, Mr Latsu said a candidate must be a registered voter, a citizen of not less than 18 years of age, and an ordinary resident in the district in which he/she seeks elections, among other things.

‘Educational qualification should not be a barrier in contesting since district assemblies conduct their businesses in English and in any Ghanaian Language common to the communities in the district.’

On roles of an assembly member, he said, he/she must maintain close contact with the electoral area, consult the people on issues to be discussed in the district assembly and seek their views, opinions and proposals to present to the assembly.

Mr Latsu, who was a former Assemblyman for the Keyime Electoral Area in the Agortime-Ziope District of the Volta Region, explained that a member must meet the electorate before each meeting of the assembly and then report back to them.

The report should include the general decisions of the assembly and its executive committees and actions he/she had taken to solve problems raised by residents in the electoral area.

The Local Government Law, 1988 (PNDCL 207) introduced the District Assemblies Concept with the view to giving a boost to the decentralisation and local governance in Ghana, hence disinterest in the polls would defeat the intent.

Mr Boniface Klomegah, former Assemblyman for Okrakrom Electoral Area, on behalf of the community, commended the NCCE for the programme and called for more such programmes to enlighten the people.

Similar programmes were held at Kpalime Kofe and Ampeyo communities, as well as the Assemblies of God Church at Kadjebi, and the Church of Pentecost at Menuso, among others.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Hundreds of Christians took to the major streets of the Sekondi – Takoradi Metropolis to register a strong stand against homosexuality and any other sexual behaviours, which are in contravention with their faith and Ghanaian norms.

Drawn from the Western Regional Network of Ministers, churches and councils, the protestors held placards reading; ‘LGBTQ is a taboo’, ‘God created Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve’, and ‘Even animals don’t practice LGBTQ+’.

Others read; ‘Say no to any form of unnatural intimacy,’ ‘Normal women marry men’, and ‘Leave a good Legacy for your generation,’ to register their abhorrence of the practice, which they describe as an affront to God’s will and purpose for procreation and multiplication.

The walk, which started at the Asempa Hotel in Takoradi, ended at the Western Regional Coordinating Council in Sekondi.

Bishop Emmanuel Kwesi Ansah, the Methodist Bishop of Sekondi and Chairman of the Network, then presented an official paper to the Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah.

Bishop Ansah reminded Ghanaians of how God punished the City of Sodom and Gomorrah, many years ago, for the ‘same uncouth sexual pattern in deviance to the natural order.’

‘This is why we expect the Government to give a sense of urgency to our crusade against LGBTQIA+ and to facilitate the passing into law the Promotion of Proper Human Sex Rights and Ghanaian Family Values before Parliament,’ he said.

The Network was determined to rid the Western Region, a main industrial and tourist attraction to many and the Nation in general, of those cancerous vices, Bishop Ansah said.

He said Ghanaian culture and traditions and the dictates of the Christian faith must stand supreme to any idealogy of rights and freedoms.

‘The leadership of the Churches in the Western Region had resolved to take a firm and resolute position on the matter in order not to disappoint the Christian faith.’

Bishop Ansah informed the Minister that the Network was putting in place counselling centres to offer help to perpetrators or victims in absolute confidentiality to enable them to reconstruct their lives.

The centres will also intensify prayers on the subject and visit educational institutions to educate the youth on the need to eschew the vice.

He called on the church to deepen its commitment to the teaching of Christian family values.

The Network would ultimately develop a homosexuality document for the teaching of children, youth and adults in all churches, he noted.

Mr Darko-Mensah, who welcomed the team, said the Government was mindful of the sensibilities, cultural and constitutional requirements as a sovereign nation and would not, in any way, compromise those guiding principles.

He pledged to inform the President about the Network’s aspirations for the nation.

Later, the leadership prayed for the Government and citizens and asked for God’s blessings for a peaceful and congenial atmosphere in Ghana.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Sissala East Municipal office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has engaged community-based groups and individuals in the municipality to consciously guard against the infiltration of violent extremist groups into their communities.

Some staff of the NCCE had been engaging artisans, women groups, youth groups, Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs), and community members across the municipality under the European Union-funded ‘Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE)’ project.

The project is aimed at preventing and containing violent extremism and terrorism through the promotion of social cohesion, peace, and tolerance in the five regions in the north and the regions bordering them.

Speaking to community folks in the municipality at different fora, Mr Hussein Elyasu, the Sissala East Municipal Director of the NCCE, stressed the need for the people to live in harmony by respecting divergent views and beliefs in religion, culture and tradition, and political matters.

He said the municipality was plagued with some developmental challenges including chieftaincy disputes, unemployment, poor road network, and inadequate social services among others served as incentives for extremist groups to come into the country through the municipality.

‘The various traditional councils in the municipality and the Upper West Region House of Chiefs should expedite action on the numerous chieftaincy dispute cases dotted across the municipality since the disputes have already resulted in the destruction of property and the maiming of people’, Mr Elyasu said.

He also appealed to religious leaders to eschew invective statements and other acts that could result in conflict and heighten security at their worship centres as part of efforts to help prevent violent extremism.

‘The ability to prevent and contain violent extremism largely depends on how individuals, institutions, groups, and communities play their respective roles and how roles are well coordinated’, he explained.

Mr Elyasu encouraged the people to be security conscious and to report any suspicious characters or activities to the security agencies, community, and religious leaders for the necessary action to be taken.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Pastor Paul Adu Adjei, the Abesim District Pastor of the Deeper Life Bible Church has admonished Christians to be watchful and be ready for the second advent of Jesus Christ, the saviour of the church.

He emphasized recent happenings around the globe, including the economic downturn, flooding, earthquakes, wars and rumours of wars as well as diseases and pestilences were all biblical prophecies foreshadowing the ‘rapture,’ the catching up of the saints.

Pastor Adjei gave the warning when delivering a sermon titled ‘Signs of the end time,’ at a church service at Abesim, near Sunyani, saying ‘What we are hearing elsewhere and seeing here are clear indications Christ’s second coming to rapture the church is imminent.’

He expressed worry about the rise in moral decadence as well as the get-rich-quick syndrome among the youth in the country and urged Christians to intensify evangelism and reach the masses with the Word of God which contained the power to transform the sinner or unbeliever.

Pastor Adjei said the Word of God remained the surest remedy to save and deliver the sinner from the looming and impending judgment of God, but added until ‘we preach the word in season and out of season, there is no way the sinner can repent, convert and accept the eternal life of God’.

Every soul, he added, had eternity stating, ‘Where to spend eternity, either in heaven or hell is the problem every living soul must ponder and contemplate’.

As ambassadors and the bride of Christ, Pastor Adjei said the responsibility was placed on every Christian to show love and preach the word of God to sinners and added ‘Our preaching must be centred on Christ who is our high priest and, the mediator between God and man.’

He said advancement in technology had provided enormous opportunities for the church to reach out to sinners everywhere with the gospel which is the heartbeat of God.

‘Virtually, all the biblical prophecies ahead of the second of Christ had been fulfilled and we need to be watchful and prepare ourselves to meet Christ in the air, as predicted in the Bible. Our preaching must put emphasis on the rapture because that is the only hope for the nation,’ Pastor Adjei stated.

As the embodiment of love, Pastor Adjei said Christ expected the church to love and care for the needy and vulnerable in society, saying by doing so, ‘we would be able to persuade sinners and unbelievers into the Christian faith.’

He reminded that Christians who served and worshipped God in sincerity and in truth would prosper here and be blessed and joyous hereafter, saying, ‘There is however no hope for the wicked if they continue to wallow in sins and in their wickedness.’

Source: Ghana News Agency