Accra, Sept.21, GNA - His Grace the Most Reverend Dr Justice Ofei Yaw Akrofi was on Tuesday installed and enthroned as the Eighth Archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Province of West Africa. His Grace Justice Akrofi, 62, who is also the Bishop of the Accra Diocese of the Church, succeeded the Most Rev Dr Robert G.A.Okine, Bishop of the Koforidua Diocese and the Seventh Archbishop who retired voluntarily on 8th October, last year after serving the Province for 10 years.

Among the dignitaries who attended the solemn ceremony at the Most Holy Trinity Cathedral in Accra were President John Agyekum Kufuor, the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Ministers of State, Members of the Council of State, Parliamentarians, politicians and the Clergy from other denominations.

The Very Rev Jehoshaphat Attey Ocquaye, Dean of the Cathedral, performed the installation and the enthronement while the Right Rev Dr Solomon Tilewa-Johnson, Diocesan Bishop of the Gambia and Dean of the Province, presented the Primatial Cross, the Symbol of Office to the new Archbishop.

Rev Canon Professor John S. Pobee, Academic Dean of the Cathedral, in a sermon called for reconciliation among the leadership and members of the Church within the Province.

He said the Church must learn to forgive each other, adding" unless we get reconcile the Church will not move ahead". Rev Pobee said the Church must have a sense of history in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past and build upon the achievements made to move the Church forward.

He said the work of an Archbishop was one of a bulwark against indiscipline because the office required someone who was disciplined, just, truthful and honest to reconcile all warring factions.

His Grace Archbishop Akrofi, born on October 29, 1942 at Koforidua in the Eastern Region, attended Ghana Secondary School, Koforidua. He continued his education at the Central Connecticut State University, Yale University of Divinity School and Norwich State Hospital all in the United State of America.

Archbishop Akrofi had his Ecumenical education at the WCC Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland and was Ordained as a Deacon and a Priest on same day in the Anglican Church on December 19, 1976 at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Accra and later become the resident Anglican Chaplain of Accra Ridge Church.

Between January 1982-September 1996, he was appointed the Provost and Dean of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Accra, before his election as the Bishop of the Accra Diocese of the church on April 27, 1996. Archbishop Akrofi was enthroned as the eighth Bishop of the Accra Diocese on September 15, 1996 until September 7, 2003 when he was elected Archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Province of West Africa. He is married to Dr Maria Akrofi, a Consultant Anaesthesist with two sons, John Ebenezer and Joshua Daniel Aaron. The Anglican Church of the Province of West Africa is a constituent member of the worldwide Anglican Communion inaugurated in Freetown Sierra Leone on April 17, 1951.

It has 13 Dioceses and one Missionary/Diocese within six independent countries, eight in Ghana and six outside Ghana in Sierra Leone, Bo, the Gambia, Guinea, Liberia and Cameroun. Eighteen Bishops, 450 Clergy and 550 Parishes minister to the needs of about One Million Anglicans.