‘Create more opportunities for Ghanaians’

The Ghana Government has been challenged to create more opportunities for young Ghanaians to get jobs that would enable them to live in dignity.

Very Rev. Fr. Lazarus Anondee, Secretary General of the National Catholic Secretariat, bemoaned the spate of illegal migration in the country, resulting in the death of many young people, and stated that more access to jobs in the country, could curb the incidence of illegal migration by the youth.

He stressed that the youth embarking on these perilous journeys could stay in Ghana if the state had created more opportunities for unemployed youth in the country.

He made this observation during the recent launch of a National Migration Project and the Outdooring of the Caritas Ghana Strategic and Advocacy Plan.

Commenting on the migration, Mr. Samuel Zan Akologo, Executive Secretary for Caritas Ghana, said though not a new phenomenon, there was a need to pay attention to the issue of risks associated with it.

He expressed worry about the hazards and death of most of the irregular migrants on their unsafe routes across the Sahara Desert through the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

With Brong Ahafo region noted for high irregular migrants in Ghana, Mr. Akologo stated that the Caritas Ghana is working with Caritas Techiman Diocese and the Catholic Relief Service to implement a two-year pilot service delivery programme for potential, irregular and returned migrants in Nkoranza and Techiman.

The project, he explains, seeks to curb the incidence of irregular migration, through social change behaviour communication strategies, provision of trauma awareness and resilience services as well as the establishment of the regional referral system, among others.

Titled Regional Right to Roam, Return and Rest (R5), the project will also provide technical/vocational and life skills training geared to support potential migrants in transits and returned migrants. 

Ambassador William Awinador-Kanyirige, Chairman of the function called on the government to cut down waste in the public sector in order to create more opportunities of employment for the youth. 

At the lunch, the two planning documents of Caritas Ghana: Medium Term Programme Critical Pathways (Strategic Framework): 2017-2021 and the Catholic Community Agenda for Change (C2 AGENDA4CHANGE) Advocacy Plan: 2017-2021, were unveiled.

Reexamine mindset on Charity-Archbishop Naameh

To promote the mission of charity in Ghana, Most Rev. Philip Naamh, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale and President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference called on the Church to show leadership in championing charity works.

He made the called in Accra during the opening of the National Conference on Integral Human Development, on the theme “The Church in Ghana Today, and the Promotion of Integral Human Development (IHD): Rethinking and Reconstructing, Commitments, Approaches, and Institutional Development.”

In appealing to Prelates to embrace emerging trends in the Church’s service of Charity, Archbishop Naameh, urged all to reexamine certain mindsets about the charity of the Church.

“Be bold to re-examine the structures in the light of the Church’s teaching, reforms and demands from the people we serve for greater professionalism, good governance, transparency, and accountability,” he stated.

“Let us examine them in the context of global best practices, discourses, and approach to human development” the Archbishop added.

The Vice-Rector of St. Victor’s Major Seminary, Tamale, Very Rev. Fr. Dr. Daniel F. Saaka, speaking on Integral Human Development: Signs of the Time with the Mid of Pope Francis, called for fairer policies and ensure that no one is left behind in development programmes.

In reechoing the pontiff’s views on poverty, characterised by suffering, marginalization, oppression, war, medical emergencies, shortage of work, and forced migration, he said the integral human development concept should ensure that the needs of Ghanaians in access to education, healthcare, water, food, justice, and decent work are catered for.

He called for proper Church-state collaboration to draw regulation to curtailed the social evils of corruption, selfishness, pride, greed, and injustice, which make our leaders insensitive to the sufferings of the poor and the vulnerable as well as exacerbate their plights.

The Technical Advisor to the Senior Minister, Mr. Robert Poku Kyei, outlined the government’s policies including the institution of public sector reforms to enhance efficient service delivery in the country.

He commended the Church for its role in integral development over the years and urged her to continue supporting government tackle sanitation and land degradation problems, as well as keep working with the government to enact policies to the benefit of the people.

Acknowledging the fact that the Church and state are condemned to work together, Ambassador William Awinador-Kanyirige, Chairman for the launch said the Church should leverage the knowledge and know-how to ensure that no one was left behind in her pursuit of integral development.

The Ambassador urged Caritas Ghana to link up with the laity in order to promote integral development in the country.

The three-day Conference which brought together Diocesan Development Officers all over the country, and Prelates as well as partners in the development, was organised by Caritas Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organisation of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference.