President Nana Akufo-Addo with Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Portal Welby (L)
The Church of England has committed an amount of £100million to help assuage the pain of countries that suffered the harsh effect of slavery.
This is part of a package from the church for its past involvement in the act that saw many Africans becoming servitudes during the era of slavery.
It is the first church to do this on international scale.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Portal Welby, dropped the hint when he paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House.
He, therefore, expressed hope that engagement with various governments in that respect will go well.
Refugee Crisis
The Archbishop of Canterbury, who is also the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, asked President Akufo-Addo and his future successors to prioritise efforts aimed at preventing projected global refugee crisis by the year 2050.
Archbishop Justin Welby made the call when he addressed the President on February 14, 2023, during a courtesy call at the Jubilee House.
He is in the country for the 18th Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) being hosted by the Church of the Province of West Africa, which started on Sunday, February 12 and expected to come to an end on Sunday, February 19, 2023.
“In 1945 after the greatest war in human history, there were 25 million refugees. Today, there are 90 something million refugees.
“The international panel on Climate Change reckons that by 2050, there will be somewhere between 800 million and 1.2 billion refugees and IDPs because of Climate Change driven by the conflicts that will erupt as people are short of water and food, and are forced to move and bump into other people,” Archbishop Justin Welby said.
“I hope that under your wise leadership and that of your successors, Ghana will be one of those to look up to as having been successful in what it does in its own country, but also as been a world leader to avert such catastrophe over the human race that will affect us all.”
On his part, President Akufo-Addo welcomed the Archbishop of Canterbury and his delegation to Ghana and indicated that the country is delighted to host him during his week-long stay in Ghana.
The President accepted the challenge thrown by the Archbishop and noted that his administration will continue to pursue policies that will lead to strong economic growth, and climate sustainability in order to prevent the materialisation of the projected global refugee crisis.
He expressed concern about the issues of modern slavery and human trafficking, which is still pervasive in Africa.
He thus commended the Archbishop for his effort at helping to tackle such issues as well as that of the growing rate of ratio of refugees as a result of the activities of terrorist groups.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu