CHRISTIANS IN BAWKU PRAY FOR PEACE (PAGE 3, SEPT 20, 2010)

Hundreds of Christian faithful in the Bawku Municipality of the Upper East Region have gathered to pray to God to heal the land and restore the area to permanent peace.
The prayer session was organised by the Bawku Local Council of Churches in collaboration with World Vision Ghana.
Peace is gradually returning to the Bawku Municipality, which for the past few years has witnessed turbulent fighting, and the prayer session was to consolidate the efforts made by the government, the National Peace Council, the West African Network for Peace(WANEP), and the Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee (BIEPC).
It is also to consolidate the gains that have been made that the churches in the area together with World Vision Ghana joined forces to seek the face of God to restore permanent peace in the area.
The congregants, drawn from several churches and staff of World Vision Ghana, defied intermittent rains and for over four hours prayed fervently to God for a breakthrough in the quest for permanent peace in Bawku.
The Chairman of the Bawku Local Council of Churches, Rev. Fr. Dominic Akologo Alale Azumah, quoting from 2 Chronicles Chapter 7:14, said unless the people of the land could identify other sins, acknowledged them and take full responsibility for them, there would be no hope.
He urged the people to turn to God to obtain the needed help to deliver them from their situation.
He bemoaned the fact that over the last 10 years, media reports about Bawku had not been favourable partly due to the reoccurrence of conflict in the area.
He observed that due to the intervention of several bodies, the situation was returning to normalcy and appealed to journalists to focus on the positive side of things with regard to happenings in Bawku.
The Director of Advocacy, Communication and Marketing of World Vision Ghana, Madam Agnes Phillips, said the only weapon for Christians was to pray, and urged the Christian community not to relent but to continually pray to God for the restoration of peace in Bawku.
“Wherever there is confusion and trouble, let us remember to turn to God and pray until something happens. Murder pollutes the land. Let us all turn to God to heal the land,” she said.
The Co-chairman of the Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee, Alhaji Ibrahim Kolbila, commended the Christian communities for complementing the road map to peace by bringing all believers to pray for peace.
He said the committee, as part of its efforts at facilitating peace in Bawku and in line with agreed steps, had also embarked on a series of traditional pacification rituals in 11 out of the 25 communities targeted, all in the quest to bring peace to Bawku.
He praised the citizens of Bawku domiciled outside the country, the Upper East MP caucus and the municipal assembly for supporting the efforts of the committee and urged all interested stakeholders to lend a helping hand in restoring peace to Bawku.