The Catholic Bishops of Ghana says that the increasing urbanization of Ghana has brought in its wake the problem of “streetism”, which in effect, children who should be in the classrooms are found loitering and/or hawking on the streets of our towns and cities.
In a Communique issued on Friday, November 13, 2015 at the end of its Annual Plenary Assembly at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, the bishops said “With increased urbanisation, the practice of prostitution is on the ascendancy while the HIV/AIDS pandemic is still rampant in some parts of the country, particularly, in cities.
The 10-day Assembly was on the theme: The Laity in the Context of the New Evangelisation.
They noted that there were cases of armed robbery attacks in our cities. Even though statistics show that such cases have gone down, we think that there is still more room for improvement in this area.
The problems relating to urbanisation also include the fact that urban poverty has increased over the last few years compared with rural poverty.
These problems relating to urbanisation may seem daunting but we are guided by faith and hope that united as one people we can surely surmount these formidable challenges. A section Laity is in positions where they can improve the situation. These are called to see such duties as a charge from God.
According to the Bishops, in Ghana today, unemployment constitutes perhaps the biggest social issue confronting our country, a situation which has been worsened by the turning out of many unskilled graduates from our schools.
The secondary and tertiary education has not been able to turn out the relevant middle level skilled human resources needed for the industrialization of the country even as large numbers of people, including school drop-outs, continue to throng our cities for non-existing jobs, ending up as head porters or “Kayaye” and “shoe-shine boys and girls”.
“This army of unemployed youth often engages in undesirable immoral behaviours like prostitution and armed robbery. To stem this tide of affairs, we recommend that the State turn some of the community secondary schools currently under construction into Community Vocational and Technical schools and continue to equip and resource the existing Vocational and Technical Institutes in the country. Parents Guardians should also encourage their wards to enrol in these schools.”
The Communique signed by Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu, President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said “While the idea of Technical Universities is good, care must be taken not to rush the proposal through without doing the necessary due diligence to ensure that the aim of the exercise will be achieved. Perhaps, the proposed Long-Term Development plan is a great opportunity to get this policy and programme articulation right. The Laity who are policy makers on education delivery are called upon to work with their co-workers to make Christ’s love felt here.”
The Bishops said Poverty is a direct consequence of unemployment. Every Ghanaian must be alarmed at the abject poverty that stares at us everywhere in the cities, towns and villages. We regret to say that various poverty-reduction interventions such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), Youth Enterprise Support (YES) and the like, though commendable, have not yielded the desired results. It is our strong conviction that policies and strategies aimed at reducing poverty must be pragmatic, realistic and home-grown.
Over-reliance on donor-driven or directed programmes must be cut to the barest minimum. The resolve of the global community to bring extreme poverty to an end must challenge Ghana to work hard to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at an earlier timeline before 2030. We urge our Laity to educate themselves and be abreast of the contents of the bail-out package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). All the Laity who are employers and business men and women are called by Jesus to help the poor and the needy as much as they can.
The members of GCBC also bemoaned the sudden surge in election-related violence in our body politic and call on all political leaders, activists and supporters to refrain from such misconduct.
In the run-up to the 2016 Elections, the Bishops said care must be taken not to allow political activities to degenerate into chaos and violence.
They lamented that inter-party and intra-party violence, particularly those witnessed in some Political Parties, were threatening Ghana’s peace and democracy, saying that these unfortunate happenings do not reflect the peaceful and non-violent nature of Ghanaians.
The Bishops urged politicians to beware of their pronouncements and activities, believing in the ability of the security agencies to deal swiftly with all reported cases without fear or favour.
“We consider chieftaincy as a noble legacy of our traditions and cultures and expect our chiefs to be fathers to all their subjects, irrespective of the latter’s political affiliations, religious beliefs and economic standing.”
“Chiefs who feel that their vocation lies in active politics can always give up their official traditional position to do partisan politics as the Constitution of Ghana demands. That is why we condemn in no uncertain terms the involvement of some chiefs in partisan politics and call on them to respect the laws of the land and refrain from such acts,” the Communique added.
The Bishops also condemned the phenomenon of vote-buying and occultism creeping into our national politics, where voters were induced to swear to vote in a particular way, and call on politicians and the Ghanaian electorate to desist from such acts.
On the Voters’ Register and the call for its replacement or revision, “we wish to commend the Electoral Commission (EC) for some of the steps it has taken so far to involve all major stakeholders in finding an acceptable solution to the issue.
We reiterate our call that all who are involved in this process must be open, honest and truthful in their approach to this exercise. At the same time, the EC must be given the chance and the space to handle the issue dispassionately and objectively in the best interest of the nation.
According to our electoral laws, minors and foreigners should not register for electoral purposes in Ghana. We also propose that in the name of transparency the Electoral Commission display the current voters’ register on its website so that all Ghanaians can check the list of voters and know where their names are located.
On the way forward for a credible voters’ register for future elections, the Bishops were of the view that the National Identification Authority (NIA) must be resourced to deliver on its mandate to register all persons, Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians, living in the country and to compile a reliable database which can be used by the Electoral Commission to compile a credible Voters’ Register.
“At the same time, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) must be adequately resourced with personnel and logistics to educate the citizenry on the rights and requirements of voters. We cannot repeat enough our call for an early release of the programme for the upcoming elections which must be the product of the consultations of all stakeholders including the political parties themselves.”
At the opening of the 10-day Plenary Assembly on Monday, November 9, Bishop Osei-Bonsu, President of GCBC said that there was the urgent need for a structured and sustained formation and education of the Laity on the Parish, Diocesan and National levels.
He said the Bishops of Ghana were committed to ensuring that this would be done to enable Catholic Laity in Ghana to play their roles effectively both in the Church and in the State.
Bishop Osei-Bonsu said theme was chosen to examine the formation and education needs of the laity in Ghana today and prepare the Catholic Laity adequately for authentic witness of life in their socio-economic, political, religious and moral dimensions in this era of the New Evangelisation.
He said the laity formed the core part of the Church with a mission to evangelise the world, noting that due to their peculiar identity, mission and vocation, they were to reflect a vital synthesis between faith and their life’s daily duties.
Bishop Osei-Bonsu, who is the Local Ordinary of Konongo-Mampong Diocese, said, emphasis ought to be placed on the fact that the laity were called to proclaim and live the Gospel in their daily lives.
“Their mission in the world is to serve humanity by playing an irreplaceable role in the Church and promoting the dignity of the human person,” he added, saying that “in their professional life, the laity were called to make the Church present and operative in those places and circumstances where only they can succeed in bringing the salt of the earth and the light of the world.”
“As citizens of the world, the laity by their calling are not to flee the world but to participate in the affairs of the secular life, be they political, social, economic, keeping in mind that they are set apart and called to infuse the Gospel values into the world and to bring the faith into their homes, places of work, circles of friends as well as the social and political life of their communities and the nation as a whole.”
In preparation for next year’s election, he told the about 500 Guests at the opening at the Catholic Social Centre that, the Bishops Conference would put in place mechanism to monitor the elections to help ensure that they were free, fair, transparent and credible.
He entreated Ghanaians to refrain from acts that were likely to mar the peaceful conduct of the upcoming elections, cautioning political parties that elections were never do or die affair.
Bishop Osei-Bonsu urged them to conduct their campaigns in an atmosphere of peace, decency and decorum to avoid any election related challenges.
He reviewed the activities and achievements of the GCBC from November last year to date, saying that a lot of progress had been made at the meeting between the GCBC and Ministry of Health on the conditions of service of the Ghana Medical Association which led to strike actions.
He prayed that steps would be taken to resolve all outstanding issues to forestall the recurrence of such strike actions in the future.
Most Rev. Jean Marie Speich, Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana in an address, said the New Evangelisation as stated in Africae Munus, was an urgent task for Christians because they too need to reawaken their enthusiasm for being members of the Church.
“It is our knowledge that evangelisation in its precise sense is the missio ad gentes directed to those who do not know Christ and in a wider sense, it is used to describe ordinary pastoral work.”
The Nuncio said the New evangelisation demanded that Christians to be reconciled with their neighbour and overcoming all barriers including language, culture, race, tribes and social status.
He said men were encouraged to let their sense of responsibility grow to make concrete commitment in the Church and help promote reconciliation, peace and justice and to offer enthusiastic and courageous contribution to the transformation of their own milieu and of society.
By Damian Avevor and Mary Antwiwaa Obeng, Bolgatanga
