By Arnold Neliba
ACCRA, APRIL 9, 2021 (CISA)-The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) has criticized the growing quest for quick wealth especially among the youth, appealing to the authorities to thwart perpetrators from using their audio-visual content to promote evil practices that promise wealth.
This follows reports of alleged murder of Ishmael Mensah Abdalla by two teenagers at a suburb in Kasoa in the Central Region which according to bishops “exposes us a people and as a nation, and calls for the need for an urgent intervention to avert further occurrences in the future,” reads their April 8 statement signed by Most Rev. Philip Naameh the President of GCBC.
“It is sad to hear the decision of these teenagers was to kidnap their victim for a ransom and then present the victim to a spiritualist for rituals, thoughts derived from watching some of the audio-visual content on television with the promise to make people wealthy within a short period of time,” the bishops said suggesting a crackdown on fraudulent spiritualists, mallams and pastors.
The prelates blamed the status quo where wealth is celebrated and elevated above everything as the main contributor to the developments as a national security threat calling for a speedy intervention.
“…the rich are worshipped without questioning their source of their wealth, where good leadership qualities are equated to donations, where individuals believe they have to make money by hook or by crook, where the end justifies the means,” the statement adds.
According to the bishops, the action by the teenagers should “serve as a wake-up call for us to find out what has gone wrong with us as individuals, as a people, as a nation and why we are where we are today. Perhaps, we have lost our moral compass as individuals, a people and a nation.”
While suggesting a dialogue to chart a new path for the country the bishops urged citizens to appreciate the need for hard work, honesty, values, integrity and the desire for genuine acquisition of wealth as opposed to the current situation of thirsting for quick wealth by hook or by crook.
“As we look forward to a possible solution to our current situation, we commend the should of young Ishmael Mensah Abdallah to the mercy of God and pray for consolation for the parents and the entire family and for the divine guidance of these and many misguided teenagers in our modern world,” the bishops said in their statement.
The ten-year old Ishmael who was murdered on Saturday April 3 in cold blood for money ritual purposes was buried yesterday April 8.
