82ND NATIONAL ANNUAL CONVENTION OF AHMADIYYA MUSLIM MISSION – GHANA AT POMADZE, WINNEBA (24-26 APRIL, 2014)
FRATERNAL MESSAGE FROM THE GHANA CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE PRESENTED BY VERY REV. FR. EMMANUEL ABBEY-QUAYE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL, NATIONAL CATHOLIC SECRETARIAT, ACCRA.
Preamble
Mr. Issifu Ali, Chairman for this occasion, Your Excellency, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, Maulvi Dr. Wahab Adam, Ameer and Missionary-In-Charge, Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission-Ghana, Hon. District Chief Executives here present, Distinguished Invited Guests, Ahmadiyya Muslim scholars and students, all Protocol observed, My dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings
I bring you fraternal greetings of peace and blessing from the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the entire Catholic Church of Ghana. On their behalf, I wish to greet and congratulate the Ameer and Missionary-in-Charge and the entire Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Ghana, on the occasion of your 82nd Annual National Convention taking place here at Pomadze, Winneba.
This occasion affords you the opportunity to come together once again as brothers and sisters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, to take stock of your relationship with Allah and with one another. This Annual National Convention is also to enable you to experience religious blessings from the Most Gracious and Merciful Father and to enhance your knowledge and worship of Allah.
Solidarity of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference
The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference is pleased to be associated with this year’s JALSA and is particularly pleased with the theme chosen for the celebration, namely, “Moral Uprightness-The Foundation for Economic and Social Growth.”
Mr. Chairman, the world today is experiencing tremendous socio-economic challenges evident in global economic recession, international fraud, violence, corruption, sexual exploitation, among others. Although Ghana is not immune to these challenges, we know that we in Ghana can surmount these global challenges if the citizens live according to the faith we profess and if we use the huge natural and human resources that the Almighty Father has graciously and abundantly bestowed on our land. As a nation, we are far from the economic and social growth we all desire and envisage because we have failed over the years to inculcate into our citizens the virtue of moral integrity which transforms citizens into selfless, patriotic and hardworking people, who are not only desirous of working hard to prosper the nation, but who seek the interest of the nation first in all things. The time has come for us to have a view, review, preview and overview of the way we train our children in matters of moral integrity.
Mr. Chairman, for our nation to achieve the desired socio-economic growth which will be the envy of the rest of the world, we will need everyone to play their respective parts. We will need teachers who love their work and are well-motivated to sacrifice for their students; we will need politicians who are humble, selfless and patriotic and who put the interest of the nation first rather than their parochial partisan interests; we will need a Judiciary which is fair, firm, just and insulated from corruption; we will need Doctors and nurses who are ready to put the lives of their patients beyond all other considerations; we will need drivers who are dedicated and respectful of road regulations. Above all, we will need ministers of God who are truly called by God and who spend their lives in service of the one who has called them as well as Christians and Muslims who are authentic and genuine witnesses in the world and whose lives challenge others to do the right at the right times and with the right people.
Mr. Chairman, the Church and the mosque have a big role to play in helping our nation to travel the road of moral uprightness, but we can succeed only when we put our houses in order. As Church and mosque, we are the moral conscience of our nation and so if we fail to play this role effectively, our nation will continue to miss the road that leads to social and economic growth.
It is my prayer today that the Christian Church and the Muslim community in Ghana will continue to collaborate with each other to help the citizens of Ghana to go back to the moral integrity and uprightness with which our nation was built right from the days of our Independence. There is no room for failure in this task.
Conclusion
On this note, I wish to thank the Ameer and the Missionary-In-Charge and the entire Ahmadiyya Muslim community for the opportunity to address these few words of solidarity to this meeting. I wish to congratulate the Mission on its 82nd Annual Convention and pledge the support and collaboration of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference for a fruitful meeting.
May Allah, the most Merciful and most Gracious, bless this gathering and bring its deliberations to a very successful end. God bless you all and thank you for your kind audience. Thank you.