Story by Nsor Paul Mensah
Accra, Ghana - The West Volta Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church in Ghana celebrated its 50th anniversary with a launch event attended by congregants and community leaders. The Target of the launch is to raise an amount of GHC2,000,000.00 towards the Celebration and the construction of a modern Presbytery office complex.
The event was marked by reflections on the presbytery's history and calls for the new government to prioritize developmental challenges over empty promises.
Rev. Prof. Daniel Y. Bruce, the Synod Moderator of the EP Church, provided an overview of the presbytery's origins. He explained that the West Volta Presbytery was established in 1975 to delineate the missionary work areas of the Bremen and Basel missionaries from Germany, who had previously worked in the Volta Region and Akam areas, respectively.
The creation of the West Volta Presbytery was intended to avoid overlapping missionary efforts and ensure the establishment of Presbyterian churches in these regions. However, the event also highlighted a historical split within the church, as a group of members left the Presbyterian Church in 1957 due to language barriers, forming the EP Church Accra Newtown.
In an interview with the media, Rev. Bruce urged the new government to learn from the past and avoid repeating the mistakes that led to the previous administration's electoral defeat. He criticized the previous government's focus on making promises without delivering tangible results, particularly in the implementation of the free senior high school (SHS) policy.
"Ghanaians were not crying that we cannot pay for our children. They brought the free SHS, but look at the problem and the consequences that we had," Rev. Bruce said, calling for a shift in focus from university education to addressing the needs of basic schools.
The Synod Moderator emphasized the importance of investing in infrastructure, such as roads and hospitals, to improve the lives of Ghanaians. He lamented the poor state of transportation, citing the unfinished Accra-Kumasi highway as an example, and urged the government to prioritize these critical development projects.
The 50th anniversary celebration serves as a reminder of the West Volter Presbytery's rich history and the ongoing challenges facing the nation. As the EP Church looks to the future, it calls upon the government to heed the lessons of the past Government and prioritize the needs of the people, particularly in the areas of education and infrastructure development.