Bishop Warns Ghanaians

The Bishop of the Kumasi Diocese of the Methodist Church, Rt. Rev. Prof. Osei Safo-Kantanka, has cautioned Ghanaians to be proactive and work as a people to ensure that the country�s peace is safeguarded. The Methodist Bishop warned that if Ghanaians failed to heed the warnings of possible violence, the country would be overtaken by events and plunged to destruction. The Bishop told DAILY GUIDE, �Ghanaians seem to be under the impression that we are under the label of an Island in the sea of trouble so as for Ghana it (destruction) will not happen. That is precisely the same attitude that the Israelis put up until destruction came upon them�. He noted that Ghanaians were behaving like the Israelis, noting, �The Israelis failed to heed warnings from Jeremiah because they thought that the temple of God was here and so there was no way God was going to allow that to happen to them.� The Kumasi Diocesan Bishop said he had written a book titled �Cry My Beloved Country� that listed circumstances that could destruct the country. According to him, the book taught Christians how to deal with issues that could thrust the country into chaos, advising churches and local council of churches to use the book in their various social and political discourses. Rt. Rev Osei Safo-Kantanka, who lectured at the university level for 30 years, criticized the partisan nature of subjecting important national policies to scrutiny. He endorsed the free education policy of the NPP presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, stating that it was a good policy but added that it should be geared towards technical education. He was of the view that without proper technical education, the country could not develop its human capacity for accelerated development. He criticised the blatant dismissal of ambitious national policies because of the country�s fiscal position, stating that �where there is a will, there is a way�. Rt. Rev. Prof. Safo-Kantanka appealed to media personnel to engage technocrats who had facts and figures, and represented non-partisan positions in discussions on national policies that had the propensity to accelerate the country�s growth. The Bishop, who is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Christian Service University College, Kumasi, deplored the school policy that did not allow students who made weak grades in one subject or another to enrol at the university. In his opinion, once a student made a pass aggregate, the person should be admitted into the school even if he had a weak grade in any of the subjects. According to him, his over 30 years experience as an educationist had shown that students who were given opportunities at the university and technical schools did very well, therefore the ministry of education should reconsider that policy again. Addressing the 51st annual synod of the Kumasi Diocese of the Methodist Church of Ghana at Asuoyeboa, Kumasi, Rev. Safo-Kantanka praised the spiritual growth of the church. He told the synod members that the growth of the church in the Kumasi Diocese had necessitated the expansion of the diocese. He announced that the number of circuits in the Kumasi Diocese would be increased from 28 to 42 by the year 2014 to make the ministerial work in the diocese effective and efficient. Bishop Safo-Kantanka disclosed that the diocese was boosting technical education with the establishment of the Methodist Institute of Technology that would train students in ICT and craftsmanship. He also announced that the diocese was establishing three special schools to train students so that their skills and knowledge would be useful to the church and society at large. He also suggested the establishment of mentor clubs, made up of people of repute who would counsel the youth about marriage, ministry, career and other relevant areas of life. The Kumasi Diocesan Bishop criticized the organization of expensive funerals and called on all the synod members to critically look at the issue and come up with ways that would prevent church members from unnecessarily incurring such costs. He told the synod that one of the biggest challenges facing the diocese was the cost of renewing land leases and the cost of lands acquired by the church. He prayed for God�s help to overcome the challenges in order to achieve the targets the diocese had set regarding all its projects.