By Akosua Frema Frempong
The Asante Presbytery Chairperson of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Reverend Benson Osafo Kantanka, has called on the government to give a human-face approach to the galamsey menace in the country as a means to finding a lasting solution to the canker.
He reminded Government that its fight against galamsey is non-negotiable. Rev. Benson Osafo Kantanka was giving an account of his stewardship as the Asante Presbytery Chairperson over the last five years at the 101st Asante Presbytery Session in Kumasi. It was organized under the theme: “Christ in you the Hope of Glory”.
The Asante Presbytery is among the first Presbyteries created by the first Synod of the Presbyterian Church held at Kyebi on July 21, 1922. Since its establishment, the Asante Presbytery can boast of 41 districts, with a total membership of over 179,000 with annual membership growth of more than 15 thousand. Every year delegates from all the districts under the Asante Presbytery meet to take stock of activities of the previous year, challenges, and achievements to help them chart the way forward. This year’s Asante Presbytery Session ends the five-year tenure of office of the Chairperson, Reverend Benson Osafo Kantanka.
Under his stewardship, the Presbytery was able to plant 78 preaching points. The Presbytery also proposed to extend its missions to people with hearing impairment in all districts through the sign language school. A vibrant youth movement was also proposed during the tenure of Rev. Osafo Kantanka to serve as ambassadors for my soul-winning. Accounting for his stewardship before the Presbytery, Rev. Benson Osafo Kantanka tasked the government to find a lasting solution to national issues such as the galamsey menace and also take a definite stance on LGBTQ+.
“The galamsey menace is still unresolved and it is affecting our water bodies and general health. I humbly entreat the government to find a lasting solution to the problem by engaging our Members of Parliament, Chiefs, opinion leaders, and other stakeholders in a round table and consultative conference to make inputs for consideration and necessary action to do away with the menace. The church as a stakeholder has a major role to play in this regard. “LGBTQ+ behavior is new to our land and we have to take a stand for our people.
However, those in it should not be mishandled, we need to help them, and encourage them so that they become part and parcel of us. We pray that we handle this LGBTQ+ problem in a nice way devoid of political divisions. Some talk about it by politicizing it, but we need to talk about it passionately, the evils in it, and how to handle it.
Indiscipline in our society today especially among our youth in schools, at home, in our offices, places of work on our roads, and even in some extreme cases, in our churches. Bribery and corruption have become common slogans in our society and we have willingly and willingly accepted them as the norm. As people of God, we need to have a holistic approach to tackle the epidemic. Prayer works but prayer without action has no positive effect. The church has a major role to play using our pulpits in teaching, and preaching about good Christian morals to change the situation for the better, he lamented”
The Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Dr. Stephen Amoah called on Ghanaians to pursue attitudes that promote productivity.
‘’ Some youth in the current government are involved in galamsey activities and they need to be advised, to stop the canker. Even it has been detected that the fish we consume has lead and hard metals which when consumed can cause cancer. We should change our attitude towards work to ensure productivity. Our younger generation should be trained well for to prepare them to be good citizens in the future. The country is widely endowed with commercially viable natural resources, forest, semi-forest, savannah, semi-savannah, coastal belt, and large labour size, with skilled components with good doctors and good lawyers everything, we have every fruit in the country but why are poor? We are all part of the problem. Until we renew our mindset, we will preach all that we know about God and it will not yield any fruitful results. It is therefore time to build the country out of collectivism, he explained”.
Awards were presented to long-serving workers and Junior Youth members who participated in the Moderator’s essay competition.
