Catholic Bishops Conference
Social Media commentator and a sympathizer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kevin Ekow Baidoo Taylor, has taken a swipe at the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference for vowing to announce to all Catholic churches in the country to vote against any political party that plans to employ the services of vigilante groups during the 2020 elections.
According to him, the Bishops are speaking like they are having “menopause”.
“You people are already politicians…you’re speaking like you men are lacking too much sex. The Catholic Bishops in Ghana, you people are speaking like you’ve got menopause or something,” he said on his programme, ‘With All Due Respect’.
The Secretary General of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, Rev Father Lazarus Anondee, announced at a media engagement that the Catholic church in the country will campaign against any political party that plans to employ the services of vigilante groups during the 2020 elections.
He added that the Universal Church will not associate with political parties that will not show commitment toward completely dismantling vigilante groups they are affiliated with.
“Don’t be surprised. If any party does not demonstrate a commitment to ending this, we may have no choice than to use our pulpits to campaign against them. The support that we, the Catholic bishops have for the National Peace Council is very strong. We will continue to throw our weight behind all other stakeholders that will carry out this dialogue,” Rev Father Anondee cautioned.
“Let us not allow this issue of vigilantism to embarrass us. It is a reality that we face and I don’t think that we should pretend that it is not an issue and toy with it. We cannot toy with this,” he added.
But Kevin Taylor believes the Bishops’ position in this whole vigilantism debacle puts a dent on the ‘respected’ Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference and also the Catholic Church as a whole because they did not speak up when the whole violence began during the Ayawaso West Wuogon bye-elections.
“Were you not in this country, when Ayawaso people were brutalized, people were killed and then a commission was set, the president at the end of the day threw away the commission’s report and did his own thing…where were you, people? Were you people taking bribes or collection? You people are acting like you lack too much sex so something is wrong somewhere,” he said.
The US-based Ghanaian journalist claims he will only respect the Bishops if they do and act in the right manner because the Almighty God is no respecter of persons, referencing a passage in The Acts of the Apostles.
“Catholic Bishops today you campaign…how are you going to campaign…?” he quizzed.
Kevin Taylor indicated that if the Bishops want political parties to sign the final roadmap put together by the National Peace Council towards ending political vigilantism in the country, then they [the Bishops] should tell the president to implement the recommendations of the Emile Short Commission.
“Why are you people not directing your anger to the President and telling him that Mr. President, you are the person causing this problem?” he asked.
He labelled the Bishops ‘stomach Bishops’ who are not thinking properly.
The NDC has refused to take part in the National Peace Council advocacy to end vigilantism because the Emile Short Commission’s recommendations have been set aside by the president.
The threat from the Bishopric, therefore, can only mean that they intend to tell their congregants to vote against NDC.
–ghanaweb