President John Dramani Mahama has asked the clergy in Ghana to partner government in fighting corruption in the country.

“We need to educate every citizen of Ghana using the churches, using the mosques, using every other spiritual facility, arena to let us be aware that we have a role to play.

“We must be talking to our church members working as teachers, working as policemen, working as tax people, working as politicians about their responsibility to the country,” President Mahama appealed.

The President made the call in a speech read for him at the ordination of Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu as the new Bishop of the Ho Diocese of the Catholic Church yesterday.

Bishop Emmanuel Fianu succeeds Bishop Emeritus Francis Anani Lodonu who served as Bishop for 42 years.

President Mahama said those who have already been caught looting state coffers have been made to face the law.

However the lack of evidence is hampering efforts to prosecute corrupt people, he said.

“Corruption has become quite a serious problem. The government is ready to do everything about it, but very often the information that you need, to gather and prosecute may not be as clear as that.”

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF BISHOP EMMANUEL FIANU

He was born in 1957 in the Volta Region and ordained a priest on July 14 1985 in Accra.

He has served in various academic and pastoral roles in Ghana, Togo and in Rome seat of the Vatican.

From 1963 he attended elementary and secondary schools in Tegbi, Ada-Foah and Accra. For three
years (1976-1979) he was a student at the Major Seminary in Tamale.

He entered the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Divine Word (SVD).

He was ordained a priest on July 14, 1985 in Accra. Since ordination, he has served in the following academic and pastoral roles:

Between 1986-1990 he was assistant parish in Togo, Chaplain of the young and in charge of the lay apostolate; teacher in the College d'Enseignement General in Kante; 1990-1994: student of Biblical Theology at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome;

Between 1994-1996: Admonitor of the SVD District in Lome, professor of Biblical Studies at St. Jean Paul II Seminaire and at the Institut St. Paul in Lome, Secretary of the Commission for the liturgical publications Ghana-Togo; He was the Director of the Divine Word College in Rome from 1996-1998:

Between 1998-2000 he was also the Admonitor of the Divine Word College in Rome; 2000-2004: Rector of the College of the Divine Word in Rome, professor and formator at St. Victor's Major Seminary in Tamale;

He was also the Secretary for the formation of the SVD Provinces Africa-Madagascar Between 2001-2003.

Between 2004-2006 he was the Coordinator for the AFRAM area based in Accra and has since 2006 been the Secretary of the General Council of his Congregation.

The Diocese of Ho, erected in 1994, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Accra, has an area of 5,893 square kilometers and a population of 658,845 inhabitants, of whom 200,670 are Catholics.

There are 28 parishes, 82 priests (78 diocesan and 4 religious), 11 religious brothers, 81 nuns
and 19 seminarians. (SL) (Agenzia Fides)