Catholic Bishops Appeal To Gov’t To Intervene In Togo Crisis

The Ghana catholic Bishops’ Conference has made an appeal to president Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the government of Ghana to urgently intervene to ensure the safety of Ghanaians along the Ghana-Togo borders.

According to the Bishops in a Communique issued on Friday, November 17 at Ho, “We have observed with grave concern the destruction of life and property in our neighboring country, the Republic of Togo, a situation that affects Ghanaian families directly and indirectly.”

The Communique signed and read by Most Rev. Philip Naameh and Most Rev. Charles Palmer-Buckle, President and Vice of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference(GCBC) respectively at the closing of Annual Plenary Assembly at Ho, encouraged all to treat refugees from Togo with love and warmth

The 12-day Plenary Assembly was on the theme: Integral Pastoral Carefor the Family in the light of Amoris Laetitia.

The Communiquetouched on a range of national issues including Education and Free SHS, Mob Injustice, Incidence of Sexual Abuse, Religious Leadership; Bribery and Corruption, Galamsey Menace, Sanitation and E-waste Management; Traditional Rulers, Values and Customs; Eastern Corridor Road, Nkonya-Alavanyo conflict, and crises in Togo.

On Education, the Bishops commended the government for rolling out the Free SHS programme which seeks to make education accessible for many more graduates from JHS level.

According to the Catholic Bishops, they are aware of the teething challenges of the initiative and urged that as a matter of necessity, all stakeholders should help to ease the challenges of overcrowding in the dormitories, classrooms and dining halls in Schools.

A conducive teaching-learning is crucial for the effective implementation of the Free SHS programme, they added.

The Bishops also condemned the culture of mob lynching of perceived criminals, saying that “it is a sign of an impatient society that has no trust and respect for due process, rule of law and dignity of human life.”

They recommendeda radical education that acknowledges that every human life in Ghana is sacred and ought to be respected from the moment of conception to natural death.

They added: “we further encourage continuous education of every Ghanaian to respect due process which is a basic tenet of our democratic dispensation.”

On the Eastern Corridor road, they appealed to Government to speed up the construction that Road which is in a deplorable state affecting the economic activity of the areas concerned.

They stated that the poor state of the road was not only affecting economic activities but had enormous health and development implications, saying that the road posed a great danger to the lives of motorists, traders and tourists.

The Bishops also expressed displeasure about the Nkonya-Alavanyo conflict, saying that various steps towards a peaceful resolution seemed not to bear fruit.The two communities have been fighting over a parcel of land with each of them claiming to be the rightful owners of the land.