On 31st May 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in a televised address to the nation announced that religious services can commence in a church or a mosque with twenty-five percent (25%) of members in attendance, with a maximum number of one hundred (100) congregants with a mandatory one-meter rule of social distancing between congregants. He added that the maximum duration of service should be an hour.
In relation to this directive, the General Secretary of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, Rev. Father Anondee has said that the clergy accepts this directive and will ensure that the protocols are observed.
Speaking in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning show, he stated: “It is a welcome development. It will afford us the opportunity to come together to worship and have masses which we have missed for months now. This is not to say things will be as they were but we will certainly have to observe the protocols that have been prescribed. We are going to follow strictly what the president has asked us to do and then we will conduct our religious activities in a manner that will not promote the spread of the virus”.
When quizzed by Samuel Eshun on the duration of service stipulated by the Government, he noted that the clergy had no problem with that as it afforded them the opportunity to congregate for worship. “We are in challenging times, so we have to face the challenge head-on. We just have to do what we can”, he added.
He made known that contrary to the belief people may hold, the clergy did not force the Government to ease the restriction on the ban of social gathering.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah
