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27.04.2015 Social News

Bishop calls for periodic meetings on general election

By GNA
Bishop calls for periodic meetings on general election
27.04.2015 LISTEN


Duayaw-Nkwanta (B/A), April 27, GNA - The Right Reverend Kofi Asare Bediako, Diocesan Bishop of the Methodist Church, has urged the congregation to organise periodic meetings to deliberate on national elections in order to avoid tension.

Bishop Bediako such meetings ahead of election 2016 would help members of the various societies of the church to 'deliberate and identify factors which evoke tensions and fear that has characterised parliamentary and presidential elections every four years'.

He gave the address when he was opening the 2015 Synod of the Diocese at the Freeman Methodist Church, Duayaw-Nkwanta, in the Brong-Ahafo Region over the weekend.

The three-day programme was on the theme: 'Holistic Spirituality: Intensifying-Church Planting Effort.'

He said 'it is not an exaggeration to say that the volatile conditions we experience at elections tend to destabilise the economy and have repercussions for the free fall of the cedi against the major currencies'.

Bishop Bediako said the repatriation of capital by foreigners and the transfer of funds by citizens during election periods also 'places excessive pressure on the dollar and other major foreign currencies and thereby lead to the depreciation of the cedi'.

To forestall any worry in the next general election and subsequent ones, he expressed the hope that stakeholders would consider his advice and appreciate each other's strengths and innate talents 'as we strive to improve our lot'.

Bishop Bediako said the theme for the occasion was selected based on the phenomenal growth of the Christian population of the Diocese during the four-year-period of his administration.

He said the population rose from 43,612 to 50,500 and from 230 societies to 286 in the same period.

'I had hoped that we could meet the 50,000 mark by the end of my tenure but thanks be to God, we have exceeded that target and have two more years to add to our growth,' he said.

GNA

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