Presbyterian Church moderator, Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante
A journalist with XYZ TV, Kwame Minkah, has said activists who believe in the #FixTheCountry campaign will not relent in their call for better governance and political accountability.
Speaking on his show last week, Minkah said the recent call by a top cleric calling on campaigners to fix their mouths before demanding the country be fixed was unacceptable.
In his words, if the cleric and other opponents were comfortable with the status quo relative to ongoings in the country, activists were also within their democratic rights to speak out on issues they believe needs ‘fixing.’
“When we are calling for things to be reset and the country to be fixed, then some clergy, especially the Presby moderator, Professor Mante, recently said we should fix our mouths…
“So with our God given mouths and with democracy giving us the rights to open our mouths and voice out, Mr Mante is telling us to shut our mouths, why should we?” he quizzed.
He listed the sorry state of infrastructure across the country relative to roads, lack of schools, lack of basic amenities and acute unemployment among the youth, as reasons for the call to #FixTheCountry.
“Why should we shut up when our roads are in disrepair, shut up when our kids are studying under trees, shut up when we have no potable water, shut up when ghetto boys are suffering, shut up when we are told there are jobs but young people flooded the recent job fair.
“Should we shut our mouths over these issues? We should shut up when debts have been taken in the name of Ghana and yet we are unable to account for over 220 billion cedis imposed on the citizenry. How can shut our mouths?
“If you want to shut your mouth to allow it develop oduor, we will not keep shut, we will open our mouths and speak, so that the oduor will not stay in our mouth,” he charged.
What did the Presby Moderator say
Speaking at the 38th Annual Delegates Conference of the Presbyterian Church, Reverend Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante observed that whiles it is easy to engage in lamentations, the same cannot be said of executing ideas needed to develop the country.
“Martin Luther King Junior once said anyone who is not committed to something is not fit to live. It is always easier to sit on the fence and talk and criticise. These days there is social media and people will just turn to social media. They are just sitting there, they won’t work saying fix the country, fix the church, fix the family but the only thing they will not fix is their mouth,” Rt. Rev. Mante added.