Diaspora News of Saturday, 24 March 2007
Source: Nana Sifa Twum and Isaac Amo-Kyereme - Pix by Kwaku Owusu Frempong
The President of the Valley View University in Ghana, Pastor Dr. Seth Laryea has re-iterated the need for Ghanaians to use the occasion of the nation’s independence golden jubilee anniversary as a period of forgives and reconciliation.
He said as human society there is a high potential of offence against each other but ‘such should not be issues of division but rather learn to forgive one another to ensure peaceful harmonious existence’
Dr. Laryea observed that Ghana has chalked all the success basically due to what he described as ‘good brotherliness’ among the populace. “Our society is not disintegrated but we can do more to pursue holistic unity and ensure total development.” He noted.
Dr. Laryea was addressing Ghanaian Seventh-day Adventists in the United Kingdom as part of activities marking Ghana’s independence golden jubilee anniversary in the UK.
Nearly two thousand Ghanaian members of the church in the UK from, Reading, Slough, Elephant & Castle, Tottenham, Lewisham, Stratham, Lee Valley among others came together to praise the Lord for the good tidings bestowed on Ghana, and also prayed for the nation and its leaders.
He noted that God has favoured Ghana in terms of peace and development. He said Ghana is also the light for the rest of the African continent. In his view, issues of war and conflict in the countries around Ghana are clear indications of what God has done for the people adding that “this calls for gratitude and praises to God”.
Dr, Laryea indicated that there is no Ghana but the people and the concept of a nation like Ghana, “is what other people see Ghanaians doing.” He therefore used the occasion to call on all Ghanaians to live lives that will raise the flag of Ghana high.
In an apparent poetic styled sermon, the Valley View University President, catalogued events which set the country into gloomy periods and appealed to Ghanaians to have the country at heart.
He said Ghana by all standards is a great nation explaining that “the greatness of a nation is not determine by the number of victories in war nor the military might, for there is no gain in victory over the feeble and also destroying the peace one has.”
He explained that Ghana as a country has ensured sustainable development and peace not only for itself but for other troubled nations as well.
In an address read for him by the Minister Counselor for Consular affairs at the Ghana High Commission in London, Mr Mark Enstil, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the UK, Mr Annan Cato, praised the Adventist church for its enormous contribution towards the development of the country over the past fifty years.
Pastors, Ebenezer Sackey, Emmanuel Osei, George Daddy and Fergus Owusu Boateng offered special prayers for Ghana and its leaders.