Let's appreciate the work of Rawlings - Bishop

Bishop Dr. Dag Heward-Mills, Presiding Bishop of the Lighthouse Chapel International, has called on Ghanaians to appreciate the work of former President Jerry John Rawlings during his lifetime.

He noted that the best time to appreciate our political and religious leaders are whilst they are alive. Bishop Heward-Mills was speaking at the end of a week long Convention of Saints, organised by the Royal house Chapel International under the theme "There shall be a performance." Former President Rawlings, his wife and some former ministers of state in his administration had during the week been special guest at the convention, which was also attended by the Chief Justice Mr Justice E. K. Wiredu.

Bishop Hewrad-Mills said it was worthy to note that some group of people were now claiming to be the original Nkrumahists, adding, "while Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first democratically elected president was alive, he was less appreciated.?Nkrumah was criticised by his own peers and his projects such as the Akosombo Dam, Tema Motorway, Tema and Takoradi harbours among others were also criticised as over ambitious projects. He said "today we have put a statue of Nkrumah and kept his corpse from decaying, claiming that he still lives, but when he was alive he was very unpopular in certain circles."

Bishop Heward-Mills, who said he was usually accused of being anti-Rawlings and anti-NDC, said leaders in whatever capacity, are usually chosen by God for a purpose in spite of their human frailties, adding that Rawlings had his negative side but there were also reasons for him to be appreciated. He observed that the man Rawlings has followers even after his presidency which was indicative of the impact he had made on the lives of millions of Ghanaians.

Bishop Heward-Mills noted that the lack of appreciation for leaders during their lifetime was also a problem in the church, saying very few pastors are appreciated by the congregation. This, he said, was evident in how certain church members handled their pastors when the pastor committed a mistake, forgetting that the pastor was as human as everyone in the church.