Why not focus on your poor members? – Opuni Frimpong to churches donating to institutions

Churches and Mosques in areas mentioned for the two-week lockdown have been urged to concentrate on their members who are unable to afford basic needs like food, water, and shelter to ensure that no life is lost to hunger.

According to the Executive Director of the Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa, Rev Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong, Pastors and Imams should not only concentrate on institutional donations but individual donations.

As President Akufo-Addo’s directive for a two-week lockdown in Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi begins today, March 30, 2020, concerns are being raised over how the vulnerable in the society can survive without trading within the period.

Already, some churches like the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, the Church of Pentecost among others have provided relief items including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline health workers, hospitals and the Ministry of Health.

While admitting that the step taken so far by the Christian community is good, Rev. Opuni Frimpong in an interview with ABC News maintained that more needs to be done.

According to him, while citizens are looking up to the government to provide relief in times like this, the onus also lies on religious leaders to fish out members among their congregation who cannot make it through this two-week lockdown without special resources such as rice, oil, and others.

“Churches must not only give their support to institutions like the Ministry of Health and Hospitals. This is the time churches must start buying rice, oil, and water and look for members in their congregation who are vulnerable. This is a level that government must come in but not government as in the office of the President but government as in the local government structure, like the assemblies where we can access them but churches and mosques must find out the vulnerable that we worship with every day. People that we know that if we don’t rush to them, they cannot go through 2 weeks without going out to sell.

“We know the vulnerable among us in our churches, we know the vulnerable among us in our mosques and in our communities so this one you identify individual needs, not the big collective need but that woman who worships with us is so vulnerable that if you ask her to stay in her home one week and do not visit her, she will die of hunger. Churches must not give all their resources to institutions but churches must give their support to individuals,” he indicated.

He added that as much as possible, people should not disconnect from one another while abiding by the social distancing principles.

“The situation is new, somewhere last week, certain churches had started going to donate to hospitals and ministry of health but we have a long way to go. While we do the big one, we are pleading with Pastors and Imams, that let us also not disconnect. Social distancing should not lead to social isolation. Don’t let us isolate ourselves, from the vulnerable, people we have known all this while, who have worshipped with us, who are in our communities, we should not isolate in the name of social distancing because it is not only coronavirus that kills, hunger kills.”