As part of the three-day Conference on Peace and Peaceful Coexistence: Ghana’s Election 2024 in Focus, the Christian Council of Ghana and the Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa (PROCMURA) have today, Wednesday 16th October, 2024, met all Christian and Muslim leaders in Techiman.
Day two of the program which was a seminar for the clergy under the theme “the Role of Religious Leaders in Promoting and Maintaining Peace and Peaceful Coexistence for all Citizens was aimed at educating and reminding the religious leaders of their sacred duty to preserve and promote the peace of God on earth as well as the critical role they play as agents of peace during, before, and after the elections.
The event, which took place at the auditorium of the Techiman Ebenezer Methodist Church, was attending by over 80 Imams and Pastors within the Techiman Municipality.
Leaders of PROCMURA emphasized the importance of the religious leaders in stressing on the importance of tolerance and unity in their sermons.
The Christian Council of Ghana and PROCMURA underscored that peace is essential for the development and well-being of society, and that it is the responsibility of every citizen to contribute to a peaceful environment.
The Bono East Regional Chief Imam, Alhaji Musah Abdulia, in an interview with the media, disclosed that the seminar conducted by PROCMURA is a step in the right direction since elections is just around the corner and elections is also one of the major source of conflicts in Africa.
Alhaji Musah Abdulia, revealed that, it is incumbent on the clergy to preach about peace whenever they get the opportunity since without peace, religious leaders will not get the opportunity to preach the word of Allah to their congregants
“Today’s program is very good, there is always tension in the country during elections and this program is designed to educate us on how best we can preach to our congregations especially the youth on the need to desist from any election related violence as the country is gearing up towards the December polls.
“Without peace, nobody can truly worship Allah, so we also have a responsibility to talk with our youth and educate them to stay away from anything that may lead to violence. Although the youth are mostly involved in violence but somethings we have some elderly people influencing the youth and the sad thing is, when the youth find themselves in trouble, these elders will abandoned them to deal with it alone.
“As Pastors and Imams we must ensure that messages on peace takes the central stage of our sermons, whenever we meet our congregation, we must enlighten them on the importance of peace and thanks to PROCMURA, we have gotten enough message to tell our people.” He told our reporter.
The Vice Chairperson of the Techiman Local Council of Churches, Apostle Perter Hermans, said the Techiman Local Council of Churches, will ensure that messages on peace and peaceful coexistence will take the center stage of their sermons as they believes they also have a role to play in preserving the peaceful atmosphere in the country.
According to him, they have learn a lot from the seminar organized by PROCMURA and believes the knowledge they have gain from the seminar will go a long a way in informing them on the kind of messages they will preach on before, during, and after the upcoming polls.
“We have learn a lot from this seminar, we have been educated on how best to peaceful coexist with others irrespective of their religious background. The Techiman Local Council of Churches and PROCMURA share the same ideology on peace and we are very grateful to them for this initiative.
“As men of God, we will use our platforms to educate our congregations on peace and peaceful coexistence, we have to preach to others on peace so that this year’s elections will be void of any violence.” He said.
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com
