President Mahama must succeed and not fail — Duncan Williams

The General Overseer of Action Chapel International, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, has  appealled to Ghanaians, irrespective of their political affiliations, to support President John Dramani Mahama to find an antidote to the economic situation facing the country.

“He has to succeed because no Ghanaian must go hungry. No Ghanaian child must be sacked from school because their parents can’t pay school fees. We don’t have that luxury of waiting until 2016 for another government to come and change things.

We can’t wish him failure. He has to succeed and not fail. Whatever prayer, counsel, goodwill, whatever effort we can put behind him and help him to succeed, it is in the interest of all of us for the sake of our children and posterity.  Irrespective of our political colours, we must support him to succeed,” he told the Daily Graphic in an interview.

President John Dramani Mahama has admitted on several platforms the challenges confronting the country and has projected 2014 to be far better economically than 2013.

In that regard, the Archbishop said all Ghanaians needed to pray for the president and also support him with hard work and dedication to duty so as to lift the country from its present economic condition.

“We have to keep praying for the president because most of the challenges he is dealing with are things he inherited in addition to what we expect of him. He inherited a lot from his predecessors whom he has to deal with before he embarks on fulfilling promises and commitments he made to the people. He is in a very difficult place,” he said.

2013 will be well remembered in Ghana for the drama that accompanied the 2012 election hearing at the Supreme Court. The New Patriotic Party, on December 28, 2012, filed a petition challenging the election of President John Dramani Mahama as President.

After eight months of courtroom battles, the Supreme Court dismissed the case and endorsed the president’s election. There were fears that the decision of the court could plunge the country into chaos.

With the country on a high security alert, it took five minutes for judges to deliver judgement in the matter but the decision was not met with the anticipated violence.

That, Archbishop Duncan-Williams, said was the work of God.

“Ghanaians need to be thankful to God because in spite of speculations about the violence and all the negativity, through the prayers of His people, all those things were averted.  God spared us as a nation and a people. For that, we owe him gratitude,” he added.

He also showered praises on the security services and the judges for their commitment to duty and professionalism which he believed also contributed to consolidating the nation’s peace, security and stability.

“We should be grateful to our security services especially the soldiers and the police. Apart from the God factor, they are the reason why when we go to bed at night, sleep and when we wake up in the morning, we are able to go about our daily routines. Our children go to school and come back safely without any problem.

“They have truly demonstrated through this court case that they are non-partisan and we want to also thank God for their lives. The role they played was very significant.  They were instruments in the hands of God to bring the country from the dark state of fear, panic instability and speculation,” he said.

Archbishop Duncan-Williams could not hide his frustration with what he said had become the norm in Ghana politics where successive presidents could not appoint key opposition figures who had the capacity to deliver.

“The president may want to appoint somebody from another party because there could be people on that side who have something to contribute to the growth of the country. This either brings friction between the president and his own party or even where the party agrees, the selected person’s party accuses the nominee of betraying their cause. This is not helping us.”

On corruption, he said whether one was in public office or not, there was the need to put the country first; ahead of all other considerations.

“We need to realise that this is bigger than our personal needs and gains. As much as we have needs. Our understanding should be that it is not about us but rather the well-being of our country.”

Source: Daily Graphic