Right Reverend Dennis Dabukari Tong
The Right Reverend Dennis Dabukari Tong, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Tamale, has called on Ghanaians, especially Christians to honour their tax obligations to demand accountability from duty bearers.
“The taxes government collects are the very resources it uses to bring the needed development we all require and yearn for”.
The Rt. Rev. Tong made the call at the close of the 10th Synod of the Diocese of Tamale.
He charged the congregation to honour such obligations as a call to serve humanity in obedience “to giving to Caesar what is for Caesar and to God what belongs to God”
He told the congregation that only God appoints leaders for nations, churches and institutions and charged church members to respect authority and to pray for the nation and it’s leaders to succeed in the assignment they have been given by God.
He advocated that the nation’s resources should be distributed evenly to ensure that every citizen, community, ethnic group, benefitted from the national cake, and emphasised that as part of the obligation to enjoy the national cake, Christians were obliged with the responsibility to pay their taxes.
“If you pay your taxes, you will have the right to question authority and demand accountability, otherwise forget it”.
The Rt. Rev. Tong explained that, “the church was suppose to be the prophetic voice of the nation and the church must be objective in whatever it says. We must speak the truth to ensure the right things are done”.
He indicated that “As Christians, we are gifted in various ways, but collectively, we have to put our gifts together to seek the oneness to build the church and nation”
Synod is the highest policy making body of the Diocese, which congregates delegates of selected church members from all Parishes to plan the development and growth of the church.
The synod meeting was the theme, “Building the Diocese: a collective responsibility of all the gifted”.