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17.09.2014 Politics

Government Bashes Christian Council—Your Criticisms Are Based On Newspaper Review

By Yaw PK Manu
Government Bashes Christian Council—Your Criticisms Are Based On Newspaper Review
17.09.2014 LISTEN

The President Mahama – led NDC government has descended heavily on the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) for daring to comment on the current economic mess the country finds itself.

According to Government, the statement released by the CCG, on the current state of the country's economy, was not reflective of the reality on the ground, but rather based on newspaper review programmes, and rumours.

The CCG after a meeting with the heads of Churches, Organizations and Executive Committee members, issued a communiqué on the current state of the nation's economy which seemed to have touched raw nerves, of members of the Mahama-led government.

Among other things, the CCG expressed worry, at the speed at which Ghanaians are losing confidence in government, because of the many unfulfilled promises. The statement also pointed at the current economic condition which it described as worsening by the day, and called on President Mahama to back his assurances of a future Better Ghana, with actions, aimed at improving the living conditions of the people.

The statement also called on President Mahama, to honour government's obligations of paying statutory funds to the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) GETFund and District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) on time, as a way of alleviating the hardship of the times, and restoring public confidence in his administration.

But speaking to the issue on Peace FM's evening current affairs programme, “The Platform”, a leading member of the Government's Communication set-up, Godwin Ako Gunn, described the statement by the CCG as “unnecessary” and mischievous, solely aimed at making President Mahama and the NDC government unpopular.

According to him, the CCG had not taken the time to empirically assess the performance of the Mahama-led government, but was rather towing the line of loud rumour-mongers whose only objective is to make the NDC government unpopular.

He wondered how the people of Ghana could be losing confidence in the Mahama-led government, at a time when there are many development projects being undertaken all over the country. “How can the Christian council of Ghana come out with such a statement, at a time when the future looks so bright and everything is getting back on track?”, he wondered.

He further described as disingenuous and unfounded, aspects of the CCG statement which expressed worry over continuous price hikes of goods and services, while workers salaries remained relatively static.

The former Assemblyman also lambasted the CCG for failing to praise President John Mahama for the good works he has been doing since assuming the presidency, while politicizing what should rather be a purely economic matter.

He cautioned the CCG to be objective in their analysis of the state of the Ghanaian economy, lest they be tagged as being over-Partisan.

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