Former President Rawlings asked to tolerate President Mills' style of leadership

Right Reverend Professor Emmanuel Martey

The Right Reverend Professor Emmanuel Martey, Moderator of the Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, on Monday appealed to former President Jerry John Rawlings to tolerate and appreciate President John Evans Atta Mills' style of leadership.

He said since the two were not the same and could never be, they should come together and reason together and assist each other.

The Moderator, who was delivering his maiden Easter Message since his assumption of office, said veritably, not everyone was happy with the style of leadership of former President Rawlings from 1981 to 2000, yet people allowed him to govern.

“Let the two leading men respect their differences for Ghana to enjoy peace,” he added.

On Dagbon and Bawku conflicts, Rt. Rev. Prof. Martey appealed to the factions to seek reconciliation, forgive and live together.

He said as a church, they did not trivialise the enormous problems facing their compatriots in those areas but it was appealing to them, based on the message of Easter - forgiveness and reconciliation – to live in peace.

“One great lesson of Easter is that the victimiser shall not triumph over the victim. It is God who vindicates as God did Jesus; and, God will surely vindicate all victims.

“And to all victims, Jesus Christ has shown the right way. He forgave his killers when he had the power to destroy them. You may also have the power, today, to destroy and even kill because you have the gun, the arrow, and the cutlass. You may even have the eloquence and the legal right to prosecute. But listen to this: Jesus suffered unjustly and what did he do.

“When Jesus suffered miscarriage of justice and was crucified, he prayed to God for his killers saying: Father forgive them, because they do not know what they were are doing.

“It is my hope that the innocent blood of all victims of the crisis in Dagbon and especially the blood of the late Dagbon King, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, would become a seed that will germinate and bear the fruits of forgiveness, reconciliation, healing and hope for all the families of Dagbon so that, together, they shall have the will to arise and to start rebuilding the broken walls of the Dagbon nation,” he added.