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| Bishop Baawobr with the participants |
Most Rev. Richard Kuuia
Baawobr, M.Afr., Catholic Bishop of Wa, has called on Ghanaians especially
Christians to reflect on the plight of the socially excluded including the
poor, and think of ways to reach out to them.
The Bishop urged Parishes
throughout the country, particularly those in the Wa Diocese to use the World
Day of the Poor (Sunday November 19) to rethink inclusive development to
address the plight of the poor in the country.
He made these observation
during the opening of a National Seminar on ‘Ensure No One is Left Behind’ in
Ghana’s Implementation of the SDGs, organised by Caritas Ghana with support
from Sightsavers, Caritas Africa, MAREDES and the Ghana Catholic Bishops’
Conference, at the Catholic Guest House,Tiegber in Wa on Thursday.
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| Bishop Baawobr speaking at the Seminar |
The Bishop who expressed
worry at the deplorable conditions of the poor, marginalised, and mentally
challenged, entreated stakeholders to make effective and inclusive planning to
ensure that no one was left behind in the implementation of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
“The SDGs can bring real
change provided all the stakeholders work at ensuring that every individual
achieves the full package of rights and opportunities the SDGs express” he
said.
Describing the Seminar as
a heart-warming one, Bishop Baawobr, expressed optimism that “stakeholders in
the implementation of the SDGs will find and agree on what to do to so that no
region or people or category of people is left behind or worst still is
exploited in the process”.
Pope Francis recently
named the thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary time (November 19) the World Day of
the Poor to help the Catholics and people reflect on plight of the poor in our
society.
In
his exhortation to mark the celebration of the Day, the Pope said: ‘If we want
to help change history and promote real development, we need to hear the cry of
the poor and commit ourselves to ending their marginalization’.
To
this end, Very Rev. Fr. Daniel F. Saaka, Vice Rector at the St. Victor’s
Seminary, Tamale, urged Parishes to give prominence to the World Day of the Poor and
use the occasion to champion the course of the poor and vulnerable, whilst
impacting on their lives in the communities.
He
challenged Catholic Charities to continue making preferential
options for the poor, and support the vulnerable, especially those, whose lives
and property are under threat.
“The
call for solidarity with the poor, is very significant” he stressed, entreating
the Church to pay more attention to issues of child labour or trafficking, waste
management, care for the environment and check the culture of waste.
In
a statement, Mr. Samuel Zan Akologo, Executive Secretary of Caritas Ghana,
observed that incidences in our country of defilement of minors and disruptions
to the school feeding programme in some very poor communities that left
children without their daily ration of food were signs of a weakening system of
protection for the vulnerable.
Decrying the elusive and
scanty action given to social protection in the country, he called for a push
for demonstrable commitment by public policy actors and architects of national
development plans to ensure social protection issues were adequately catered
for.
“It is no longer
acceptable that the weak, poor, marginalised and vulnerable in society are an
after-thought of planned policies and development programmes” he declared.
He explained that the
principle to ‘Ensure No One is Left Behind’ meant a conscious policy and
programming direction that aims to reach first those furthest behind or at the
periphery of society.
Mr.
Akologo noted that the seminar, a continuity of Caritas Ghana work last year,
to assess the status of Ghana’s implementation of the SDGs and dialogue to
ensure that everyone, and especially the poor themselves, understand how they
will be accounted for when measuring progress with the SDGs.
Madam Grace Antwi-Atsu,
Global Advocacy Advisor at Sightsavers, noted that her organisation was working together with
partners, including Caritas Ghana to ensure that no one was left behind in the
implementation of the SDGs.
This was after the
realisation that most Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), who make up 15 % of the world population, were not systematically
included in the progress made against Millennium Development Goals.
To make the biggest impact
by 2030, Madam Antwi-Atsu said Sightsavers seeks new alliances and partnerships,
as well as use advocacy to ensure no one was left behind.
She called for evidence
based advocacy, and entreated funders, non-profits, and other civil society
groups to maintain pressure on governments to include PWDs and all marginalised
in their development plans.
Notwithstanding the
considerable economic growth and reduction of poverty over the years, Madam
Otiko Afisa Djaba, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, in a
speech read for her stated that persistent economic and social inequalities
calls for the intensification, harmonisation and sustenance of interventions to
deal with the problems.
She said poverty which
has been halfed from 56.5% to 24.2% nationally from 1992 to 2013, was still
rife in the three Northern Regions, with Upper West recording 70%.
She noted that though
efforts were being made to increase women participation in the political front,
increase women access to MASLOC to improve their women financial status, among
others, Government would collaborate with Caritas Ghana and other development
partners to provide more interventions to bridge the poverty gap.
Over 45 participants
drawn from MAREDES, Ghana Federation of Disable, Diocesan Development Officers,
as well as Civil Society groups attended the two-day Seminar.
