The Christian Council of Ghana congratulates the organisers and participants of the National Economic Forum which took place at the Senchi Royal Hotel last week.

The Forum which brought together key stakeholders from labour unions, civil society organisations, political parties, industry players, financial institutions, security services, traditional leaders, political parties, parliamentarians, religious leaders, policy think tanks and academia is a testament to the fact that we can come together as Ghanaians to dialogue and build consensus on issues that will spur the growth of this country.

The Council is of the opinion that, one of the key tenants of a multi-party democracy is consensus building and that is what our state institutions and other stakeholders must deliberately make it a culture in our national life. In this respect, we must begin to build the relevant structures that will facilitate dialogue, consensus building and talk with each other rather than talk at each other.

This places a responsibility on government to ensure that, every key stakeholder is actively involved in the processes of building consensus, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations. It is for this reason that we think it was very unfortunate that members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) could not attend the just ended forum.

Although they gave strong reasons for their non-participation, the Council is of the believe that, the Government could have used all diplomatic means to address the concerns they raised and get them to participate in such an important national process. Further to this, we urge government to continue to bring all the key stakeholders together in developing consensus for nation building after the Senchi Forum.

Government in its efforts to facilitate national dialogue and inclusiveness must ensure that its communicators and agents do not take actions, use songs or make statements that will erode the public confidence and credibility that the good people of this country have in them.

We urge Government to also take the necessary steps to hold similar forums on some key sectors of our economy such as education, health and energy that are going through challenges in recent times.

As a country, it is time for us to know and appreciate the fact that, former Ministers of States, Vice Chancellors, Presidents, Religious Leaders, and others who have played significant roles in our nation are one of the state assets. As one of the greatest state assets, we must make the best use of their experience and expertise in building our nation.

We have the natural and human resources we need to develop our nation and we must begin to build synergies and take maximum advantage of them to develop our nation.

The Council further reiterates the need to ensure that our long term national interest should supersede all other interests because that is one of the surest ways we can develop our dearest nation.

It is our prayer that, the momentum and commitment that participants and Government exhibited at the Forum will be evidence in all that we do in implementing the outcome of the Senchi Forum.

Let us continue to pray for our leaders and trust God to bless our nation and make it great and strong in Jesus’ name.

We encourage every Ghanaian with these words of the Psalmist from Psalm54:10 “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you”

SGD

Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong

General Secretary