The Presiding Archbishop and General Overseer of Christian Action Faith Ministries (CAFM)in Accra, Ghana, Nicholas Duncan Williams has commended the decision by the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to resort to the Supreme Court to challenge the 2012 Presidential election results rather than inciting supporters to flood the streets.
Citing the 2007 bloody post election conflict that claimed about 1,300 lives and displaced over 600,000 people in Kenya as well as that of the Ivory Coast in 2011 which claimed 3,000 lives and displaced over 5000 people, Archbishop Duncan Williams said it was commendable Ghana did not follow those examples.
As far as the 2012 presidential election dispute in Ghana is concerned, Archbishop Duncan Williams said: “Instead of us taking arms and killing one another, the opposition decided to go to the Supreme Court".
He added that: "Even though litigation is stressful and it creates anxiety and [brings about]...uncertainty, it is a better option than us taking arms and killing one another and shedding innocent blood on the streets of Ghana”.
He said: ”…For that, this thanksgiving is so necessary for You and I to give thanks that we are still a nation and a people even though we have challenges and difficulties”.
Archbishop Duncan Williams expressed those sentiments when he preached at this year’s National Prayer and Thanksgiving Service at the Independence Square on Sunday April 7, 2013 in Accra.
He also said Ghana risks plunging itself into a dangerous realm if tribal and ethnic tensions are ignored rather than dealt with.
He further bemoaned what he described as divisions among the Clergy and the Church in Ghana saying all such divisions could conspire to undo the country.
He said: “Praying for those in authority…the government in office, does not make us a particular political party follower”.
“It is our God-given mandatory command and charge from Elohim to intercede for everyone in authority,” Archbishop Duncan Williams stressed.