Tema, Sept. 22, GNA - Reverend Gideon Titi-Ofei, General Overseer of the Sheepfold Chapel, has commended government for its bold decision to refuse permit to Gays and Lesbians to hold their Conference in the country.

Making the commendation in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Rev. Titi-Ofei pointed out that, as a people with values, Ghanaians needed to take a stance on pertinent issues that tended to tarnish the good image of the nation.

He held that the activities of homosexuals most of whom profess to be Christians, was an indictment on the Church and the entire country. The General Overseer stated that since the activities of homosexuals bordered on morality, as shepherds of the flock, religious leaders would be failing in their duties, if they did not condemn homosexuality.

Rev. Titi-Ofei, who is also the Executive Chairman of the Pan-African Institute for Leadership and Governance Studies, however, cautioned the Church not to shun homosexuals, but to open its doors, welcome and offer prayer sessions for them in order to get them converted.

He tasked parents and school authorities to ensure that children dress decently.

Rev. Titi-Ofei attributed indecency on the part of the Youth to the tendency by them to 93copy blindly=94 the Western style of dressing. The General Overseer urged school authorities to institute measures that would help shape the lives of the Youth to help them to lead morally upright lives.

He wondered why some parents refused to sanction their children whenever they put on indecent dresses.

Turning to the cocaine scandal that had hit the country in recent times, Rev. Titi-Ofei expressed grave concern about the way certain politicians and a sections of the media had handled the issue. He said the way and manner some political leaders, especially those from the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress 93are playing politics with the cocaine saga by accusing each other=94, was rather unfortunate.

He said the Media, 'added salt to injury=94 when they put into the public domain, evidence taken in camera at the Committee, at a time when some of the people mentioned at that sitting, had not yet testified.

Rev. Joe Ocran, National Superintendent of the Wesleyan Standard Church, who also spoke to the GNA, condemned the activities of homosexuals in the country, pointing out that by tradition and custom, Ghanaians do not encourage same sex practices. Rev. Ocran said even though the citizenry had the right and freedom to do whatever they wanted to, they must be cautioned that those rights went with certain responsibilities.

He applauded the action of the Methodist Church in coming out boldly to ban her Youth from wearing mini-skirts in the Church, adding that it is worthy of emulation, and urged other churches to take a cue from it.

Touching on the drug menace, Rev. Ocran pointed out that drug trafficking was a new phenomenon in the Ghanaian society that had to be dealt with seriously.

He, therefore, added his voice to the call on government to empower the security agencies, by providing them with the necessary logistics to enable them combat crime.

The law-enforcement agencies, he said, needed to be well motivated so that in the course of discharging their duties, they would neither be corrupted nor influenced by material wealth. Rev. Ocran said it was worrying that part of the drug trafficking problem, was not the nation being used as a transit point, but it being a user country.

"The use of narcotic drugs in a country tends to breed and harbour a lot of social misfits," he contended, adding that in the past, one hardly saw lunatics roaming the streets, but nowadays it had become a common horrifying and terrifying sight.

He was of the opinion that the young ones be prevented from experimenting with drugs, and suggested that one surest way to do that was to make it extremely difficult for them to have access to it.