The President Is Running A State Not A Church

When he had his turn to deliver his speech to inaugurate the Berekum Municipal Assembly last week, Mr. Lord Stephen Oppong, the Berekum Municipal Chief Executive, could not for once cease describing President John Atta Mills as a “man of God”.

This description of the President occasionally made some of the
audience to look at each other’s faces with surprise at this new
description of the President. After the programme the Ghana News Agency caught up with the Municipal Chief Executive and asked him to explain why he kept on referring to the President as a “man of God” in his speech.

GNA: Why did you keep referring to the President as a “man of God”?

MCE: Because he is a Christian and every Christian is a man of God.

GNA: But the President is running a state and not a church.

MCE: You need not run a church before you call yourself a man of God.

GNA: Are you a Christian?

MCE: Yes, I believe so.

GNA: So do you call yourself a man of God?

MCE: I believe I am.

Mr Oppong said the President’s ascendancy to the throne was
supernaturally ordained, adding, “He is someone who is favoured by God
to carry out divine mandate”.

Explaining the linkage between the President’s religious beliefs
and his ability to perform effectively as the Head of State, Mr.
Oppong said it was not obligatory that one needed to be a Christian to
be able to deliver effectively as the President of a country.

“I do believe that all who do things by Christian values and
according to the dictates of God are on the road map to prosperity and
are likely to succeed”, he said.

Mr Oppong said leaders are representatives of God who are
expected to meet the aspirations of the people by pursuing agenda
according to what God wants them to do and seek the welfare of the
people they serve on behalf of God.