Meeting part of efforts to seek solutions to national challenges
Mahama calls on government to embrace dialogue
Members of the clergy who recently visited former President John Dramani Mahama, had held similar talks with people in the Executive and Legislative arms of government.
According to Most Rev. Dr. Paul K. Boafo, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, who led the delegation, the reason for their visit to the former President was to seek his input on topical national issues because he was a major stakeholder in the affairs of the nation.
After laying out the purpose of their meeting, which among others was to find solutions to national challenges especially as played out in the legislature late last year, Rev. Boafo disclosed that they had held meetings with a number of stakeholders before Mahama.
He explained that after all those other meetings: “We have seen that there are other major stakeholders we need to make approaches to and see how best we can find answers to what is happening to us, looking at all the circumstances and the conditions around us.
“It became very necessary during our series of interventions and interactions … it became necessary that we cannot leave His Excellency the Former President behind but to also make a move to see him.
“And see how best we can all have discussions and look at what is happening to us in our country and if there is a way out by which we can all look at it and come to a resolution,” he added.
Reason for their round of consultations:
He also summarized the reason for their intervention as, taking proactive steps to forestall a recurrence of the violent scenes that were witnessed in Parliament during the post-2022 budget debate especially with the matter of the Electronic Transactions tax (E-Levy).
“We have come as heads of churches of the various associations and groupings in Ghana. Our history has it that the church has played a very significant role in our development and the welfare of our people.
“And so, the major stakeholders, when things come of concern, we are all to take it up and find answers and resolutions to it, so that at the end of the day what we preach and what governance is all about can be achieved to the glory of God, he added.
On the back of the chaos in Parliament, he added: “Christian bodies became alarmed and said will not sit but see how best we can together, find a solution to it. So we have made various approaches.”
The list is below:
1 - Minister of Finance – on two occasions
2 - Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu
3 - Some members of the Minority
4 - Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin
5 - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – their last meeting
