The immediate past President of the Ghana Baptist Convention has charged the Ghanaian Clergy to be ready to take the risk of confronting socio-economic injustices in the society. According to Rev. Dr. Kojo Osei-Wusu, people continue to be poor because their sources of livelihood are curtailed by authorities who are responsible for their economic wellbeing. In apparent reference to the ongoing decongestion exercise in Kumasi, the President of the Ghana Baptist University College said the Church should be bold in fighting for the needy and disadvantaged in the community. Rev. Osei-Wusu was delivering a sermon at the Grace Baptist Church in Kumasi on the theme: “Meeting the Criteria for Passing God’s Final Exam”. The Reverend Minister said the church must stand on the biblical understanding to move into social action by ensuring people do not suffer the consequences of negligence of local authorities. He however noted the church must first have the integrity, leadership and information if it is to play the prophetic role of influencing society positively. Rev. Osei-Wusu is particularly unhappy that majority of the people are unjustly being thrown out of job through the local assembly’s decongestion exercise. “The length of time they’ve been there is due to the negligence of the authorities. If people stay on your land and you don’t say anything about it and they build on it, get established, then later on you realize that this is your land, so they should quit, you have no right to just go and budozer. It should be incumbent upon you to find an alternative place for them. “You are the government and the government is there for the benefit of everybody and some of them have gone for loans from the banks. So when you come and break them down, you send them back to the lowest ebb of the economic situation and that is why I think our people continue to be poor but these people, who speaks for them?” Rev. Osei Wusu told Luv Fm. He observed the clergy has the power, responsibility and neutrality to speak against injustices in society, even in the face of politicization of criticism. “If you raise the voice, then one party thinks that this is an advantage, so they cash in and the whole thing is messed up. Even if you’re a pastor, you’ll be tagged that you’re playing politics, but that does not matter; the motive, your integrity is what matters. But it will lead to risking of our lives, it will lead to risking of our ministry and that is what happened to Jesus Christ. They didn’t kill him because he was preaching the gospel. They killed him because he confronted the ills of the society and directly condemned the authorities”, the Reverend Minister emphasized. Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/Luv Fm/Ghana