[ 2012-05-05 ]

Strong morals and ethical codes needed to govern the society - Prof Dovlo
Accra, May 05, GNA - Reverend Professor Elom Dovlo
has called on religious bodies to move a step
further from the level of conflict prevention to
building meaningful principles for lasting peace
and consensus building in political and social
issues.

He said as a country it was important to support
our religious life with strong morals and a system
of ethical responsibility as the end result of the
ceaseless preaching and prayers for social change
cannot be easily determined.

Professor Dovlo said this on Thursday during his
inaugural lecture at the Great Hall of the
University of Ghana.

The lecture on the topic: Public religion in
Ghana's fourth republic: impressions and
prospects, centred mainly on the emerging roles of
religion in the society and it was chaired by the
Vice Chancellor Professor Ernest Ayeetey.

Professor Dovlo said there was the need to put in
place new conceptions of political power and
authority and these should include ethical and
legal norms adding that though several
institutions have developed or revamped their code
of ethics, an equally important thing to do was to
maintain a strict mechanism for upholding their
values.

He said it was in this regard that the roles of
the Moral Rearmament Ghana and the National Peace
Council must be enhanced to play more useful roles
in the society.

Professor Dovlo said since the fourth republican
constitution was promulgated, many religious
organisations have prayed for a God-fearing
president who would seek the guidance of God in
making political choices but it was not right for
people to construe our political elections as a
form of biblical ordination and that a balance
must be sought whereby the notion of biblical
election or ordination is not profaned and abused
in Ghanaian elections.

He said the traditional concept of power and
authority as something that is spiritual still
remains very dominant in the society and many
political candidates have established their
religious credentials as the ordained or the
Elect, by proclaiming to be a God fearing man, or
the use of gospel songs as was done by Captain
Effa-Darteh to establish his claims for the
presidency.

Professor Dovlo said in a society where many
believed that it is God who ordains rulers, there
are still many politicians who confuse their own
will with that of the will of God and that it is
even possible that an atheist pretender can easily
become the president of the nation where many of
its citizenry are religiously gullible.

He said if we claim to be God fearing then we
should try to maintain peace ourselves and insist
on it from our political candidates rather than
expecting miraculous interventions through prayers
as various religious bodies have started their
relentless prayers, preaching and exhorting
Ghanaians to be peaceful and ensure a violence
free election.

Source - GNA

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