SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT HOLDS SECOND BREAKFAST FORUM

***** The President of the All Africa Conference of Churches, the Rt. Rev. Professor Kwesi Dickson, has stressed that it is the desire of the Churches that Ghanaians live in peace to ensure speedy development. He said this commitment has been demonstrated by the dialogue initiated by the Churches with the government before the New Democratic Process was launched in 1992. Professor Dickson was speaking on the topic, "The Church and the State", at the Second Breakfast Meeting organised by the speaker of Parliament Mr.. Justice Daniel Francis Annan at the institute of economic affairs in Accra on 20 October. He said the attitude displayed by the churches, strongly suggest their request for a democratic principles and values. According to Rt. Rev. Dickson, in contrast with western theology, third world theology seems to have a wider function. That is, while it gives spiritual satisfaction, it also articulates human misery and suggest ways of alleviating it. He stressed the need for Churches to work together with the government to find solutions to some of the teething problems facing the nation. The Speaker of Parliament Mr.. Justice Annan, who chaired the function said the Breakfast forum has become an integral part of Ghana's fourth Republican Parliament's expanded publicity programme. He said this forum and others which are yet to be announced, aim at bringing together expert, government functionaries and intellectuals from various fields of public and private activity to interact with members of Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary. The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt. Rev. Anthony Beeko, said churches have promoted a sound democratic culture in the country since independence through the establishment of schools, hospitals and agricultural institutions. He praised Ghanaians for creating the current favourable political climate in the country. End