President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday said the Senchi Declaration might not have met the aspirations of Ghanaians but it certainly presented the nation a way forward to consolidate its economic gains.
He said the Senchi Declaration would serve as the foundation for a sound ethical value on which the economic policies and prescriptions would stand the test of time.
This was contained in a message read on his behalf during the opening of the 4th African Bible Leadership Initiative (ABLI 2014) in Accra.
The ABLI is a United Bible Societies-support project that focuses on promoting the use of the Bible as a tool for leadership transformation in Africa.
It was initiated and sponsored by the British and Foreign Societies and the American Bible Society.
The ABLI, which was established in 2009, is made up of pastors, reverend ministers, priests and Christian leaders from the African continent.
The vision for the ABLI project is to empower African leaders by discussing the Bible’s emphasis on integrity, compassion and justices in leadership, with the belief that it would lead to positive transformed nations.
The three-day programme is being organized in Ghana in collaboration with the Bible Society of Ghana.
President Mahama noted that challenges that confront most African countries as far as leadership was concerned, was borne out of indiscipline, lawlessness, corruption and bribery.
“Values of integrity, discipline, justice and hard work are a sine qua non to the implantation of whatever policies we come up with for growth, not only of the economy, but also of the nation as a whole,” he said.
He said the burden of nation-building was not the sole responsibility of the party in power but all Ghanaians.
He said the ABLI should become a platform for searching and applying personal and national lives, the appropriate ethical values that should become a complement to economic development.
He intimated that studies and econometric estimates had shown that corruption had devastating effects on political, social and economic development of communities and countries.
“Needless to add, it hampers economic growth and even investment exacerbates poverty and equality, weakens rule of law and erodes the viability and legitimacy of the state,” he added.
He appealed to members of other faiths, including Muslims to come out with ideas on how the country could forge ahead in peace and promote reconciliation in the light of instances of unrest that had hit parts of the sub-region.
Professor Jerry Gana, former Cabinet Minister in Nigeria, urged Christians to positively influence the world as they were deemed to be the salt of the world.
He also urged Christians to take up leadership positions or risk having bad people ruling over them.
He urged African leaders to make the Bible the standard for their lives as it is the surest way to rid the continent of corruption and other negative vices.
Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, Chief Justice of Ghana, called on African leaders to embrace the fear of God ascribed by ABLI in order to correct or limit the negatives on the continent.
She noted that although Africa is well endowed with natural resources, it had not been able to achieve much for its people.
Lord Paul Boateng, former cabinet minister in United Kingdom, who was the moderator for the programme, expressed appreciation to the three Arms of Government for their support towards the programme.
He called for peace and prosperity and importantly good leadership for the African continent, and urged all especially Africans to contribute their quota towards the total development of the continent.
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