Politics of Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Source: GNA

Political leaders must focus on protecting the defenseless - Rev. Frimpong-Manso

The Very Reverend Dr Yaw Frimpong-Manso, Former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has urged African political leaders to demonstrate strong commitment to fighting corruption and greed to give more social protection to the poor and the defenseless in the society.

He said they should make sure that the continent’s abundant resources were used to transform the lives of the masses.

"Job creation, shelter for the homeless, education, health, infrastructure development and good governance are issues they would have to focus on".

The Very Rev. Frimpong-Manso was speaking at a seminar held by the Association of Christian Men’s Fellowship in Kumasi to discuss ways of helping to make this year’s presidential and parliamentary polls peaceful.

The former Moderator reminded political office holders that they were elected to help fix problems facing the people and that they must do just that without making any excuses.

He said politics must not become just a convenient means for anyone to shortchange the society and make cheap money.

The Very Rev Frimpong-Manso used the occasion to make a passionate appeal to the Electoral Commission (EC), politicians, the media and all stakeholders to play by the rules of fairness, transparency and decency to make the December elections credible and incident-free.

The President of the Association, Mr. Bright Osei Agyemang, asked all to boldly condemn those who shamefully vilified and insulted their political opponents for no justifiable reason.

He pledged to work with other civil society groups to help the people to appreciate the need for political tolerance and accommodation.**