Presbyterian Church to collaborate with traditional authorities

Right Rev Professor Emmanuel Martey, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, has given the assurance that the church would collaborate with the traditional authorities to find solutions to the numerous problems confronting the Ghanaian society.

The Moderator said recent cases of homosexuality and lesbianism being practiced in some educational institutions in the country were worrying, especially as some of the cases involved teachers who were supposed to know better.

He said the Presbyterian Church would not relent on its efforts to speak against such sinful and filthy behaviours and called on the traditional authorities across the country also to join hands to ensure that such practices were not entertained.

The Presbyterian Church moderator gave the assurance when he paid a courtesy call on the Okuapemhene, Oseeadeyo Addo Dankwa III, in his palace at Akropong as part of his working visit to the Akuapem Presbytery of the church.

Rt Rev Prof Martey commended the Akuapem Traditional Council for its support to the church since its establishment and added that the church would not also reneged on its promise of supporting them in their bid to develop the area.

He also commended the people of Akuapem for living together as one people although there were few chieftaincy and land disputes facing them.

Rt Rev Prof Martey also commended the Okuapemhene and his people for assisting the first missionaries of the church who arrived from Switzerland to settle at Akropong and other towns without facing persecutions or provocations from the people of Akuapem.

He urged Nananom to modernise Ghanaian tradition, especially the chieftaincy institution to make it devoid of conflicts and disputes in order to be acceptable by all.

The Krontihene of Akuapem, Osabarima Offei Kwasi Agyemang, expressed concern about lack of jobs for the youth in the area and attributed it to lack of employable skills and therefore called on the church to collaborate with the traditional authorities and the government to establish technical and vocational centres to train the youth.

Okuapemhene on his part, commended the moderator for remembering the role the traditional authorities played and continue to play to support the existence of the church.

He also commended the church on its contributions to socio-economic development of the country since its establishment, especially in the areas of education and agriculture and urged other churches to emulate the example.

Oseeadeeyo said it was during the time of one of his predecessor, Nana Addo Dankwa I, that the missionaries arrived at Akropng in 1835 welcomed them and found a place for them to stay and established the church.

Okuapemhene said the existence of the church in the area had brought a lot of benefits to the people and gave the assurance that they would continue to collaborate with each other.

The Moderator was accompanied by the Chairperson for the Akuapem Presbytery, Rev Dr Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante and other senior ministers of the church.

Source: GNA