The General Secretary of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Alexander Nana Yaw Kumi-Larbi has called on Ghanaians to rethink and change their negative attitudes towards the environment.
Apostle Kumi-Larbi said this during a consultative meeting organized by the La Area with some stakeholders within the La Municipality and environs on Tuesday ahead of the impending Environmental Care Campaign slated for 24th to 29th February this year.
Reading Genesis 2:15, the General Secretary said that after creating humans, God placed them in in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. However, poor sanitation and ever-growing environmental issues confronting the country attests that Ghanaians have failed to live up to this mandate.
He said that there is, therefore, the need for an attitudinal change in tackling the poor sanitary conditions in the country.
Making reference to the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, he said that the Prodigal Son changed the course of his life after “he came to himself” and realized that he was on the wrong path.
“In the same way, we as Ghanaians must come to ourselves and understand that what we are doing is wrong and begin to change our ways. This is why we are calling for an attitudinal change,” he said.
Touching on the Environmental Care Campaign, Apostle Kumi-Larbi noted that the Environmental Care Campaign was initiated by The Church of Pentecost in 2018 as part of the church’s 5-year strategic vision (Vision 2023) to curb the sanitation challenges of the country.
As part of the campaign, the church organized clean-up exercises at various levels across the length and breadth of the country. He, however, admitted that the exercises, although very effective, did not yield the desired results, since most Ghanaians keep on littering their surroundings.
According to him, a review of the campaign efforts of the church in 2019, has revealed that attitudinal change on the part of the citizenry is the lasting solution to the menace.
He indicated that in order to ensure a more effective campaign this year, it is important that the Ghanaian populace come on board and to own it.
“What this means is that The Church of Pentecost will no longer own the vision, rather we are selling it to the Ghanaian populace. So that it will no longer be regarded as a vision of the church, but an agenda of Ghana to make our environment clean,” he said.
He revealed that the leadership of the Church has received very positive feedback from some Districts and Areas of the church who have engaged key actors of the community in a durbar on how to deal with their respective environmental challenges.
“In some cases, the communities have set up a task force to help ensure that the environment stays clean,” he said.
The consultative, which was held at the Sophia McKeown Temple (SMT) at La in Accra, was chaired by Apostle Alexander Nana Yaw Kumi-Larbi; assisted by the La Area Head, Apostle John Osei Amaniampong, a cross-section of the Area pastorate and some Heads of Departments at the COP Headquarters
Present at the meeting were representatives from the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), Ghana Police Service, Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), and the La Municipal and District Assembly (LADMA). The participants also included some Traditional Leaders, Government Appointees, Market Queens, the La branch of the Trotro Drivers’ Association, and some members of the Muslim community, among others.
At the end of the meeting, a committee was set up to plan towards a community durbar on environmental cleanliness, Among other things, the Committee has been tasked to mobilize residents for a massive turn up at the impending cleanup exercise, and to come up with the modalities for an evaluating and monitoring system to help maintain environmental cleanliness in the municipality.
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