Sunyani (B/A), March 8, GNA - The Mid-West Ghana Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA) is to construct a five-billion-cedi Hostel in Sunyani, for tertiary students. Pastor Fred Agyei-Baah, Executive Secretary of the Conference, speaking at the end of a four-day Elders Council meeting in Sunyani at the weekend, expressed concern about inadequate accommodation for students in the area, which was hindering the development of education in the area.

He told the 500 delegates and 40 Pastors, who attended the meeting on the theme, "A journey of hope" that the project was in line with the social responsibilities of the Church.

A part from helping the human resource development and welfare of members, it would also create employment for the Adventist youth. "Education plays a crucial role in the development of every country," he said and stressed the need to create avenues to help students to exploit their talents and without hindrance. Pastor Agyei-Baah that the Conference was negotiating with estate developers to execute the project and urged other religious organisations to support the government for accelerated national development.

Pastor James Kwaku Badu, President of the Conference, said the meeting, held in every ten years, was aimed at drawing of a development plan and stressed the need for the Church to work for an improvement in the lives of its members, saying "If we fail to plan we are planning to fail".

He said the Conference had within the past ten years constructed 10 six-classroom blocks and sponsored eight Pastors to complete their Masters in Theology programmes at the Andrews University in the United States of America.

Three Pastors are pursuing their Masters degrees at the Adventist University for Africa, in Kenya.

He called on Ghanaians to be law-abiding, support the government and to nurture democracy.

"Freedom is not what you want to do but rather what you ought to do," Pastor Badu stated.