LEADERS of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana have called on the government to utilise the country's natural resources for rapid socio-economic development.
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church, Rt Revd Francis Amenu, and the President of the Trinity Theological Seminary, Rev. Dr Cyril Fayose, made the call at the maiden synod of the West Volta Presbytery of the church at Akosombo.
The three-day event, on the theme: “Enhancing human dignity," was attended by leaders of the church who deliberated on the successes, challenges and shortcomings of the church over the years and planned for future activities.
Speaking at the ceremony, Rev. Dr Fayose said one of the factors that had contributed to low self-esteem among Africans, including Ghanaians, was their inability to recognise, appreciate and harness the abundant natural resources at their disposal.
"We just do not appreciate and harness the enormous resources at our disposal. Before coming into contact with the western European merchants and Christian missionaries, we were self-sufficient, savvy and sophisticated," he said.
He added: "When these people landed on our shores, we welcomed them, showered them with gifts, danced for them, carried their luggage to our villages, gave them land and settled them, they looted our resources freely, which we carried to their countries for them".
According to Rev. Dr Fayose, up to today, the black man still danced for the white man, gave them free access to their economies and markets as well as queued at their embassies literally begging to go and sweep their gutters and clean their toilets.
"Our religious and political leaders go to them soliciting aid and grants before we can survive. We are still dancing so that they will donate pittance of their loot to us," he added.
Rev. Dr Fayose stated that Africans continued dependence on donor aid had contributed immensely to the low self-esteem among the black people, a situation that had made them to perceive everything to have originated from the western world as superior to those produced on the African continent.
"It is our incessant dependence on donor aid that has eventually violated our basic human dignity as a people," Rev. Dr Fayose said.
He, therefore, appealed to the government, religious bodies and other stakeholders to psyche the people to appreciate and harness their natural resources to uplift their socio-economic standards.
Dr Fayose said as part of efforts of restoring a national dignity, Ghanaians should believe in themselves and learn to consume what they produced locally.
For his part, Rt Revd Amenu called on churches to be catalysts for change and commended the government's efforts in pursuing national orientation programmes aimed at changing the psyche of the people.
The moderator commended the government for instituting measures to ensure safety on the Volta Lake, but appealed for more pontoons to improve the Volta Lake transport system.
The District Chief Executive for Asuogyaman, Mr Johnson Ehiakpor, gave the assurance that the government would soon provide a number of pontoons that would safely ferry the people across the lake.
He used the occasion to outline the various development and social intervention projects being implemented by the government in the district.
In a welcoming address, the Chairperson of the West Volta Presbytery of the church, Rev. Joyce K. Kodade, appealed to members of the church with professional skills and knowledge to provide resources that could be utilised to support the poor, marginalised and oppressed members among them.
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