President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday stated that government was not sponsoring any religious groups or individuals as had pervaded in the Ghanaian media and beyond a couple of weeks ago.
He explained that the proposed pilgrimage to Israel was through the instrumentality of private sector organizations that had secured sponsorship for 200 Christians to undertake the mission and government had no amount of money in the trip.
President Mahama stated this when he interacted with Christian organizations at the Flagstaff House, Kanda to discuss the date and programme for the annual prayer and thanksgiving service.
The groups were made up of; International Clergy Association, national Association of Christian and charismatic Churches, Christian Council of Ghana, Women’s Aglow International, Council for African Indigeneous Churches, National Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Ghana Pentecostal Council.
The programme was also to commit the national day of prayer, slated for April 7, this year for God’s continuous intervention for the development of the country.
Before engaging them in a closed-door discussion, President Mahama said he would allow the clergy to discuss the Israel issue and decide on the modalities of selecting and conveying of the Christians for the pilgrimage.
“Government is only playing a facilitating role in the pilgrimage issue and not sponsoring anybody as has been put out there”, President Mahama emphasized.
He said although government was currently experiencing some turbulence in terms of power, electricity crisis and industrial challenges, government with the intervention of intercessory prayers would overcome those crises.
President Mahama said the unity and peace that the country had enjoyed over the years was due to divine intervention and there was the need to continue praying incessantly for the country.
ArchBishop Nicholas Duncan Williams during a prayer session prayed to God to guard the President and the Presidency against evil disruptions in their daily activities to achieve the development goals of the country in succeeding years.
He also prayed for African leaders to be courageous in achieving the development goals of their various countries.