Kumasi, April 17, GNA-Religious leaders who are in the habit of describing African culture and practices as satanic and inhuman, have been advised to desist from such utterances for the sake of peaceful co-existence.

Mr. Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, Managing Director of Lakayana Company, a revenue Generation and Debt Collection firm, said "it is blasphemous for any one to spike African culture since the culture and beliefs like any other cultures, was handed down to Africans by God".

Mr. Prempeh gave the advice in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi on Saturday, on steps that could be initiated, not only to preserve but also promote African culture in the global world.

He observed that the uniqueness of the African culture was a source of worry to some category of people and religions, who have therefore resorted to some negative propaganda with the view to undermining it. Mr. Prempeh admitted that there was some aspects of the culture, which however, needed to be changed to enable it, keep pace with the changing times.

In so doing, Mr. Prempeh said care must be taken not to replace the entire culture with foreign values as that would result in the "lost of our roots and history as a people."

On the problem of the increasing number of broken marriages, he attributed it to the inadequate counselling and guidance given children by parents prior to such engagements.

He observed that unlike times past, parents in recent times do not investigate the moral aptitude and social backgrounds of people willing to marry before giving them their blessings.

Mr. Prempeh stressed the need for parents to begin to muster courage and intensify their counselling role to enable their children to make the right choices in respect of marriage.

Turning to churches, he said apart from counselling, the church also has an obligation to impress on people willing to marry, to first perform the customary rites at home before seeking any wedding at the alter.