‘Ghanaian Pastors Are Ignorant’ – Gov’t Appointee

A member of the Board of Directors of the Minerals Development Fund (MDF), Ms. Ellen Ama Daaku, has posited that religious leaders who are kicking against the controversial Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) have taken that stance because they do not read wide.

She was of the opinion that the heads of the various sects in the country, such as the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), the Christian Council, and Islamic Council, would have done a better service to the country, regarding their take on the SCE brouhaha, had they upgraded themselves by reading more.

Adding insult to injury, after the Education Minister, Mathew Opoku Prempeh, had earlier incurred the wrath of Ghanaians with similar remarks, the loud-mouthed government appointee, on Thursday, October 3, 2019, took a swipe at the clergy when she appeared on Net 2 TV’s flagship morning show dubbed ‘National Agenda’.

“I don’t understand these critics. As for those pastors, I think it is because they don’t read. Yes that is all I can say”, the saucy MDF lady said.

Before the end of the promgramme, Ellen Ama Daaku, who was probably prompted about the inappropriateness of her comments, reluctantly and without any remorse said: “Well if you people say I should withdraw, then I do. I have a lot of friends among the clergy fraternity”.

The Nana Akufo-Addo government had since last week been under serious criticism over reports that the Ghana Education Service (GES) had concluded plans to sneak a ‘pro-gay’ syllabus into the country’s basic school system.

The disdain was worsened by the responses from some of the political appointees of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. While Hon. Cynthia Mamle Morrison, Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, said the CSE critics are ‘hypocritical’ and playing the ostrich, the Minister for Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, inferred that the GPCC’s position on the matter was borne out of ‘ignorance’. Now Ama Daaku, another political appointee is categorically asking the religious leaders to go seek knowledge by reading wide.

This was what Dr. Opoku Prempeh said: ”There are faith-based organizations of the GES and National Council for Curriculum Assessment governing councils to help ensure that our curriculum is aligned to the values of the nation. We appeal to the general public and all faith-based organizations to exercise restraint and verify the fact of official government policy before making public pronouncement”.

 

For her part, Hon. Morrison said inter alia: “Let us not pretend as if our four/five-year old children do not know sex. Children have been doing Maame and Paapa all the time while our teenage girls do ‘Supi’ in the schools. We should not play the ostrich by burying our heads in the sand”.

 

But in a brief reaction to Napo, the General Secretary of GPCC, Rev. Emmanuel T. Barigah, said the Minister’s suggestion that they (Pastors) should verify information on the CSE was an insult, and charged the government to be honest with its citizenry.

 

”The waters are not clear. What he said yesterday totally contradicts the earlier statement at the beginning of the year about sex education in basic schools. Sometimes our ministers of state must be very candid with us and give us a modicum of respect. To suggest that religious leaders have not read any document and are coming out to make uninformed statements, for me, is an insult. The general public has heard it so it’s up to them to make the judgment”.