The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Accra, Mr Charles Palmer-Buckle, has urged Ghanaians to contribute to national development and stop the blame game. He said Ghana had reached the stage where blame games were not necessary; instead, we should focus on contributing to national development as individuals.
Archbishop Palmer-Buckle said this at the first annual general meeting of the Cardinal Dery Foundation in Accra last Saturday.
The meeting brought together reverend fathers, some religious societies, government officials, board of trustees of the foundation and members of the foundation.
The foundation aims to bring together the seams of the various efforts to immortalise the good name of Cardinal Dery who was a mentor and contributed immensely to the Catholic Church in Ghana, as well as to human development.
Shared responsibility
Expatiating on ways to contribute to national development, Archbishop Palmer-Buckle noted that if Ghanaians would put the past behind them and contribute their quota to nation building, Ghana would be a better place for everyone.
“We should stop playing politics with everything and understand that whoever comes to power is our leader, therefore our contribution is needed, and the contribution goes beyond financial contribution. Each and everyone has a role to play in developing the country, not the President alone,” he advised.
Archbishop Palmer-Buckle, who is also the Vice-President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, appealed to religious leaders and leaders in various positions to train their subordinates on how to contribute to society, because development was a shared responsibility.
He noted that since a larger net could catch more fish than a small net, it was time for all Ghanaians to contribute to create a better Ghana.
“People think miracles bring the extraordinary things, but it is the ordinary person who brings the extraordinary things; therefore the ordinary Ghanaian, civil societies and leaders are to do the extraordinary things to build a better country rather than expect the President to change the country,” he pointed out.
Exemplary lives
The Chairman of the Foundation, Sir Fosuaba Mensah Banahene, advised the Roman Catholics to replicate the role Cardinal Dery played to mould the lives of others as they lived exemplary lives to win souls.
He noted that Cardinal Dery played an integral role in the lives of the underprivileged and vulnerable in the society, therefore individuals should emulate him in order to touch the lives of deprived ones.
“Cardinal Dery’s passion for hard work, honesty, discipline, as well as truthfulness shall never go unnoticed. I believe we will allow these qualities to continue to guide us as responsible parents, ordinary men and women, as well as citizens the church can be proud of,” he stressed.
Background
At the meeting, they discussed some projects to raise funds for beautification purposes and canonisation, including the girl child educational support project.
A new board of trustees was inaugurated after having a head count election and also discussed ways of raising funds for the foundation to support their projects.
The foundation, which was known as the Archbishop Dery Foundation, was instituted in 1995 for human development to emulate the values of Cardinal Dery. It was relaunched in 2013 and renamed the Cardinal Dery Foundation.
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