CHURCHES NOT IN BED WITH GOVT — YINKAH SAFO (PAGE 14)

THE Anglican Bishop of Kumasi, Rt. Rev. Daniel Yinkah-Sarfo, has denied the suggestion that the church is in bed with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
He said many church leaders in the country have on many occasions taken issue with the government on matters which were not in the interest of the people to underline their impartiality in the political process.
“You may not find the venom with which church leaders like Rev. Asante Antwi and Rev. Emmanuel Asante in the past poured on the previous government but I tell you, the current government is not finding it easy with the church today”, the Anglican Bishop told the Daily Graphic in Kumasi on Monday.
Rt. Rev. Yinkah-Sarfo was speaking in an interview in reaction to accusations in sections of the media that, the spirit with which the church took on the PNDC and NDC governments on many of their policies had strangely evaporated into thin air under the NPP government, in spite of the many negative happenings.
He admitted that under those governments, church leaders never spared them on a number of issues but noted that, “every objective observer will realise that things have changed now as the nation has advanced in its democratic development”.
“Even then, we as church leaders, will not hesitate to tell the government the truth when things go wrong”, he said.
The Bishop, who is a former military officer, also spoke on other issues of interest and said military governments did not do the nation any good and that the church would continue to pray that the nation does not return to those bloody days.
“Democracy is the only avenue to achieving progress so people should be ready to vote out governments that do not perform”, he said.
The Anglican Bishop expressed concern about the way political campaigning was becoming dirty.
He, therefore, called on political parties to conduct themselves very well in the run-up to the December polls so that the nation would continue to enjoy peace.
He charged political parties to put the nation’s interest first because without a peaceful nation, no political party or government could deliver.
Rt. Rev. Yinkah-Sarfo also called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to ensure that political parties were given a level playing field to operate.
“Any attempt to give the advantage to one party could be a recipe for troubles, which we all don’t want”, he stressed.
The Bishop emphasised that it was dangerous for any party to think that it should win the elections at all cost. “It is the people that should be made to decide”.
On that score, Rt. Rev. Yinkah-Sarfo urged the people not to allow politicians to knock their heads together and destroy the country.
He admitted that the nation’s democracy was growing but maintained that, “we still have a long way to go”.
On the President’s nomination of Prof. Mills for the highest national award, the bishop regretted the “noise” being made about it purely from political angles.
He said the President took a lot of things into consideration before making the nomination so Ghanaians should respect his decision.