print

The Secretariat of RECOWA-CERAO has organized a weeklong workshop from the 1st to the 8th of June 2024 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The workshop which is the desire of the entire Catholic Bishops of West Africa under the aegis of RECOWA-CERAO is aimed at finding the ways and means of introducing peace, justice and love which will in turn guarantee development in the land. The session was technically organized by the first deputy Secretary of RECOWA-CERAO Fr. Vincent de Paul BORO under the supervision of the Secretary General, Fr. Vitalis Anaehobi. Present at the session were the second deputy secretary Fr. Celestine Sagna and the Director of Media and Communications, Fr. George Nwachuku.

The session was graced by the high presence of two prominent bishop-members of RECOWA-CERAO. These bishops are, the first Vice president of the Association, Bishop Afrifah Agyekun Joseph, who is the general overseer of the eight episcopal commissions of RECOWA-CERAO and, Bishop Andrew Kamley who is the Bishop Chairman of the Justice, development and peace commission. The session drew together all the priests, men and women who work for Justice, Development and Peace in their various countries in the entire West African subregion. With the exception of Cape Verde, all other countries in West Africa and beyond were represented.

The first step was to listen to the representatives of the various African countries to know the realities in our different West African countries. Listening to these representatives, the messages coming from the countries in West Africa were those of woes, corruption, terrorism, anarchy, hatred, killings etc. The climax of the reports came from Gambia where people are treated like the under-dogs. Going by what we heard in the session taking place in our African countries one can imagine that future of our subregion is scary. The messages are bleak and spell a very dark future for the subregion. We are therefore called upon to speak out from wherever we are confident that the future is in the hands of God and He will surely act in His own time.

In a brief chat with the Director of Communications of RECOWA-CERAO, the first vice president Bishop Afrifah regrets the shabby political and social situation in our entire African continent. He decried the negative influence of the Western world on our political and social scene. He further laments the role of certain Catholics nay Christians in political positions. He cited an ugly example with Sierra Leone whose president is a Catholic but seems to be unconcerned with the evils in the land. He called on our Muslim brethren to understand that we are sons and daughters of God born with equal rights. He therefore reminded the laity to brace up and stand firm in their duties to God and humanity. He finally called on ECOWAS to brace up to their responsibility of assuring peace and co-existence of all our West African subregion.

Rev. Fr. George Nwachukwu
Latest posts by Rev. Fr. George Nwachukwu (see all)