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14.04.2005 General News

I Have No Regrets- Rev Dr Aboagye Mensah

14.04.2005 LISTEN
By Ghanaian Chronicle

Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, Rev. Dr. Robert Aboagye-Mensah, says he has no regret at all for being part of the clergymen who demanded that ex President Rawlings apologize to President Kufuor for comparing him to the notorious armed-robber, Ataa Ayi.

According to him, it was the media that twisted and misconstrued what they had said; resulting in various abuses they had received after the statement was put into the public domain. He was quick to observe that he took the abuses as one of those things just as Jesus Christ was abused and was crucified, based upon lies.

“For me personally, I have no regret for what we have said. The statement has been misconstrued and twisted and we have been abused,” he said, adding that, “For abuses, anybody who is a leader must expect them, for, even our Lord Jesus Christ himself was abused and finally crucified on the basis of lies and so if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have to take note of those things and carry on with the work, hoping or believing that, what you are doing was what God is coming to do,” he sermonized.

Speaking on Radio Gold yesterday, Rev. Aboagye-Mensah dismissed criticisms that they had never made any comments with regards to past insults, arguing that they were out to admonish the two Johns to find lasting ways of resolving the current impasse, and called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to take note of the language they use.

“One of the best legacies we have to leave for our young people is teaching them how to talk to one another with respect and dignity.”

According to the man of God, it was unfortunate that the media failed to focus on the other important issues raised in the statement but chose to rather focus on their quest for Rawlings to render an unqualified apology.

“We love this country and some of us have known experiences about what happened in Liberia. We have experiences in Sierra-Leone and some of us have been working towards peace in those areas. We have seen the damage and we are frightened that when we carry on like this, may God save us and this is the import of what we are saying.”

Expressing his disgust further about the way the media reported the matter, Rev. Aboagye-Mensah noted that, “What is hard for me with the press was that in a sensitive issue like this, the journalists should have serialized the 8-paged letter and given the public the chance to read and make up their mind.”

Responding to a suggestion that they (Clergymen) have resorted to a blame game, the Presiding Bishop said, they have started by asking the two leading figures to find out means of resolving the problem, simply because the seemingly acrimony between them, was not in the interest of the nation.

sked about how he feels about the public criticisms on the pastoral letter, Rev. Aboagye-Mensah expressed no worry at all and noted it is not possible for everybody to agree on a particular issue. He cited a situation where the clergy received more flaks, abuses when a prophetic message was preached.

He as well had a lot of reservations about the position of Dr. Livingston Boamah, the Moderator of Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church, Ghana, who distanced himself from the pastoral letter, which demanded an apology from the ex-President.

According to Rev. Aboagye-Mensah, it was unfortunate that his close pal did not inform them about his latest move after he (Boamah) had consented to the contents of the statement and said it was a balanced point.

He explained how the EP Church Moderator had earlier raised objections to the statement, which warranted Bishop Akrofi to allow him to re-study the document for at least thirty minutes, after which he consented and promised to sign it on Thursday.

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