Pray for politicians - Palmer-Buckle

The Most Rev Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, has blamed the Ghanaian citizenry for making politics become a very difficult venture for those interested in it.

“When you give people responsibilities, you must support them; our duty is to support our politicians to be successful in managing affairs of the country,” he said.

Most Rev Palmer-Buckle said Ghana needed selfless men and women in political leadership who were imbued with sterling qualities of honesty, hard work, dedication to duty and country, selflessness, commitment to and compassion for fellow Ghanaians.

Archbishop Palmer Buckle was speaking at the Founder’s Day celebration of Pope John Senior High School and Minor Seminary in Koforidua.

The school was celebrating the Founder, the late Bishop Joseph Oliver Bower, who founded it in 1959 to educate young men for the holy priesthood and for socio-political leadership in Ghana.

He said politics was not bad but Ghanaians by their negative attitudes and selfish interests compelled politicians to become very partisan.

Archbishop Palmer-Buckle expressed worry that after giving politicians responsibilities through the ballot they became apathetic and never supported their leaders to manage the country well but rather made things difficult for them.

He expressed support for the government for the initiative to construct community senior high schools but suggested that those schools should rather help to depopulate the over populated SHSs.

He said when that was done, teachers could have effective and efficient one-on-one contact hours with every student in school and this would go a long way to breed quality citizens for Ghana.

Most Rev Palmer-Buckle urged teachers and parents to help their children to identify their talents, adding that for students to become responsible adults who are dedicated to duty and country, they should endeavor to identify and follow their talents and passions with focus.

He said most Ghanaians borrowed money for funerals and wondered why they refused to do same for their children’s education.

Mr Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere, the Eastern Regional Minister, said the government was committed to ensuring a better quality education and training at all levels with emphasis on gender equity.

The Regional Minister urged parents to augment the government’s efforts by investing quality time and resources in their children’s upbringing to guarantee a bright future for the nation.