Gomoa Ohua (C/R), Nov 29, GNA - The Auxiliary Bishop of the Cape Coast Archdiocese of the Catholic Church, Most Rev Matthias Nketiah, has called on the government and donor agencies to introduce farmers and fishermen to alternate livelihood ventures.

Bishop Nketiah noted that micro-credits would be of little value if the beneficiaries were not introduced to ventures, which could help them to broaden their financial base.

Efforts to reduce poverty through micro-credits will not be successful if the people should have to rely on their one-way of earning a living, the Bishop said when addressing a ceremony marking the annual Corpus Christi, the feast of Christ the King, at Gomoa Ohua in the Central Region.

Some 37 stations under the Apam Parish of the Catholic Church participated in the feast, which is celebrated in November to commemorate the kingship of Jesus Christ. Bishop Nketia said the diminishing marine resources and the erratic weather pattern these days indicated that fishermen could no longer rely on the sea and farmers on rain-fed farming to earn meaningful income to support themselves and their families. He attributed problems the nation was facing to the inability of citizens, especially those placed at key positions to abide by the truth.

"If priests could be truthful and faithful to their calling, husbands and wives to their spouses, workers to their jobs and employers and chiefs to the people they owe allegiance to, we shall overcome the problems in the shortest possible time," he held. The Parish Priest, Rev Jude Eduafo Ampah, said the feast was only to portray Jesus as a King and quoted intensively from the Bible to attest to Jesus as a King. "It is not idol worshipping as some opponents of the Catholic Church perceived". Earlier the Bishop Nketia confirmed 246 members into the Catholic faith.