Ghanaian journalists and clergy have become “dumb dogs,” unable to criticize government – Agyinasare
Journalists and clergy have become dumb dogs: Presiding Bishop of Perez Chapel International, Bishop Charles Agyinasare has described the media in Ghana as well as Christian and Muslim clergymen as dumb dogs who are afraid to criticize governments when they go wrong.
The media, Bishop Agyinasare said, has especially failed to be watchdogs of the government on behalf of the citizens, leading to a series of mismanagement of state resources by successive governments.
Delivering a virtual sermon on Sunday, July 19, 2020, the revered preacher said politicians don’t feel accountable to Ghanaians because those expected to hold them to account are not doing their jobs.
“Our governments behave as if the monies for development are from their personal pockets, instead of knowing that it’s the Ghanaian taxpayer’s money, our politicians don’t respect our citizens and our taxes, they don’t feel accountable to us so they mismanage our meagre resources, unfortunately for us, our journalists who are supposed to be watchmen who should hold public figures to account so that they do the right thing do not see any evil, they don’t hear any evil and they don’t speak any evil. They have become dumb dogs…”
Advertisement
“In the same way our clergy who should be saying it on the rooftops, because many of these politicians go to church or to the mosque but as pastors, we have also become dumb dogs and if you are a pastor and you talk they say you talk too much…we must come to a place where irrespective of our political affiliations, we must tell our government you cannot use our financial resources recklessly like this,” he said.
Explaining further, the outspoken preacher said since the tenure of former President Jerry John Rawlings to the current Akufo-Addo administration, there have been projects which have been abandoned by governments in power because it wasn’t started by them.
Among some projects listed by Bishop Agyinasare include the 86 unused vehicles procured under the Rawlings’ regime, the affordable housing project under the Kufuor era as well as the community day schools under the John Mahama administration.
“In 1999, just before President Rawlings tenure ended, he had imported 110 vehicles and they used a few and they were left with 86 of them, new ones, the Kufuor government came, did not use it…then Kufuor left power, he built affordable housing, he started this project, there were some that were completed but not inhabited, he wanted to bridge the housing deficit, as of 2017, John Mahama was in power, those buildings had still not been inhabited.”
“Then John Mahama also did affordable housing units and built schools, some of the schools have been left in the bushes, meanwhile we have school children learning under trees in some of these localities. Some of the affordable houses have been completed, the government must finish it so that people can move into it, and we are not moving into it, we’re playing politics,” he added.
