We want peace in Ghana but there is no justice to guarantee it – Fr. Michael Mensah

A lecturer at the University of Ghana and a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, Rev. Fr. Michael Mensah has underscored the need for peace and coexistence in Ghana stating that the opposite has dire consequences for all including the Church and the vulnerable in society.

According to him, despite the desire for peace on all fronts in the country, it is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve communion and peaceful coexistence because there is an absence of justice and a sense of the common good in society.

He argues that the idea that a few people can be comfortable in society, and sometimes dishonestly, while the great majority wallow in abject poverty is simply not sustainable and a great threat to communion and peaceful coexistence.

Making references to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Fr. Mensah said recent events on the geo-political stage have drawn the attention of the entire world to the importance of communion at all levels of society.

He explained that “In February 2022, the world had hardly begun to recover from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, when we were met with the rude shock of a new war in Ukraine. Since then, it has become increasingly clear how a conflict far away in the east of Europe could have a devastating effect on the lives of innocent people living thousands of miles away. As if that were not enough, over the past week or two, we have awoken to the possibility of another conflict, closer home, in Niger, with the decision of the leaders of ECOWAS to apply force in returning that country to democracy. The effect of that will soon begin to bite, in the prices of onions and meat products in our country.”

Fr. Mensah noted that Ghana has its own challenges regards communion citing the recent crisis in Bawku and the 2024 election year which he says promises to be another rancorous electoral year with volatile political discourse.

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“We must be clear in our minds, that anything that threatens the communion of the wider Ghanaian society affects the church directly. That is why the entire church, working through both clergy and laity must become an active voice for peace and reconciliation. But more importantly, I think it has become all the more critical for us, especially as Knights of St. John and Ladies Auxiliary, and in the spirit of our Patron saint, to identify the underlying causes of the breakdown in communion in our society,” Fr. Mensah said.

“We want peace; we want communion but where is the justice which will guarantee it? I fear, Sir Knight chair, that the greatest threat to communion and peaceful coexistence in our country is the absence of justice and a sense of the common good. The idea that a few people can be comfortable in society, and sometimes dishonestly, while the great majority wallow in abject poverty is simply not sustainable. We must state this clearly and unequivocally. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear it!” He added.

Fr. Mensah said this in a keynote address delivered at the opening ceremony of the 4^th & 5^th Biennial Convention of the Accra East Grand Knights of St. John International and Ladies Auxilary held recently at the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Chaplaincy, University of Ghana, Legon.