Accra, 30 July, 2022 / 9:45 pm (ACI Africa).
There is need for Catholic Bishops in Africa to advocate for “right policies” that facilitate equitable distribution of resources in their respective countries, a UN Senior Mediation Adviser has told delegates of the 19th Plenary Assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).
Addressing SECAM delegates in Ghana’s capital city, Accra, who include over 120 Catholic Bishops coming from the eight regional associations of the continental symposium, Emmanuel Habuka Bombande acknowledged the efforts of the Catholic Bishops in Nigeria amid kidnappings and murder that seem to target Christians.
“I urge and appeal for the Church through its leaders to continue and increase its presence to be more proactive, more engaged in speaking out for the right policies that ensure society as a whole benefit from the resources of the state,” Mr. Bombande said in his Tuesday, July 26 presentation titled, “The Challenges of Terrorism and Insurgency in Africa.”
In advocating for appropriate policies, the Ghanaian Peacebuilding practitioner further said, Catholic Bishops “promote social justice and inclusion of all”, which, he added, can go a long way in addressing “the challenges of terrorism and insurgency in Africa.”
He called upon Catholic Bishops in Africa to “reinvigorate” the Justice and Peace Commissions of their respective Episcopal Sees and Conferences, saying the commissions “can provide our Bishops with the quality analysis upon which they can speak forcefully” and “be heard loudly in all the corridors of power where social injustice is hatched”.