Speak against electoral abuses ---Palmer-Buckle

THE church, in its prophetic mission, has to speak out against electoral abuses and all forms of malpractices in the conduct of elections, the Treasurer of the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Most Rev Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle, has advised.

He said the Church had over the years been the voice for the voiceless and “therefore, cannot afford to shirk this grave responsibility. We have to speak out and defend what is right and just, even at the risk of our very lives as church leaders in Africa.”

Rev Pamler-Buckle, who made the call at the opening of the SECAM and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) workshop on the promotion of peaceful elections in Africa in Accra yesterday, noted that democratic elections represented the mark of legitimacy for the exercise of power in Africa.

He added that there was an urgent need for the churches to increase their engagement in the promotion of civic education among the faithful so that they could live out their civic responsibilities in a more informed manner.

He added that the Catholic Church in Africa had committed themselves to encourage “competent and honest citizens to participate in party politics” and called on “all Christians to take part in political life”.

In his welcome address, Most Rev Paul Bemile, the Episcopal Chairman for Governance, Justice and Peace of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference noted that the workshop had come at an opportune time because between this year and next year, 22 countries in Africa would be holding either parliamentary and or presidential elections.

He said from these statistics, it was heartwarming that even though Africa was not entirely a haven of peace, it was gradually moving away from the coups d’etat and the instability that marked its governments, adding that this was not without violence and acrimony.

He added that Bishops in Africa had therefore called on African leaders to conscientiously exercise stewardship and uphold the common good over the interest of family, clan, ethnic group or political party and to protect and promote the social, economic, political and religious rights of every citizens.