SPEAK OUT AGAINST INSULTS (1B, NOV 2, 2010)

Christian leaders have been charged to rise up and speak against “the culture of insults”, which is creeping into Ghanaian politics.
Speaking at the opening of the Catholic Bishops Conference at Sefwi Wiawso yesterday, the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, The Most Rev Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, charged men of God not to be silent and allow “the noble art of politics to be dragged into the quagmire of insults, character assassinations and threats of violence”.
“I think the church will have to call to order the traditionally and culturally unacceptable culture of insults being perpetrated on our airwaves,” he added.
The Most Rev Palmer-Buckle described the phenomenon as very dangerous for the political development of the country, which, according to him, was known to be peaceful and its people peace-loving.
“Surely, if we want to cultivate peace, we shall have to protect the dignity of this nation and of each and every person in it. We also have to protect the sacredness of the various political high offices in the country”.
Speaking on the theme “If you want to cultivate peace protect creation”, The Most Rev Palmer-Buckle said the yearly problems that parents and their children faced to get admission to senior high schools was an issue which should engage the attention of all.
He said last April, the Catholic Church organised the first national forum on education, where it dealt with the many problems and challenges facing education in the country and especially obstacles the church found in the development and delivery of education.
“We shall have to revisit this sector once again in the face of the present hue and cry,” he said.
The Most Rev Palmer-Buckle said media reports of armed robbery, murder, rape, defilement, fraud and corruption were also disturbing.
“Are we losing our moral compass? We have cause to worry about our human and social ecology. We have to work at protecting creation, namely human beings, if we are to have lasting peace in this country,” he said.
Touching on the theme, he said the church had repeatedly and unceasingly called the attention of all and sundry, especially the government and the governed, to the mindless exploitation of the country’s natural resources, which is resulting in the wanton degradation and destruction of the environment all in the name of development.
He said from the present state of things, the Sefwi area, for instance, which is endowed with many natural resources, was being made a “destroyed paradise” as a result of human greed and indiscipline in how people were exploiting the God-given wealth and heritage.
He said God had endowed Ghana with many natural resources in the form of gold, manganese, diamond, bauxite and recently rich deposits of oil and gas off-shore and on land.
“We have to protect all these as stewards and custodians,” The Most Rev Gabriel Palmer-Buckle said.