The Christian Council has called for an end to the partisan approach adopted when solutions are being sought to challenges confronting the country's development. It said that the recent surge in unemployment, depreciation of the cedi and road accidents in the country, could be reversed if the issues were discussed in a bipartisan manner.

The council also described as worrying the spate of corruption, pollution of water bodies and labour unrest in the country.

In a communique issued onnational issues in Accra, thecouncil commended thegovernment for tasking the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to ensure the refund of money wrongfully paid to some individuals and companies.

It said the moneys were wrongly paid as a result of contracts given by the Savannah Accelerated Development  Authority (SADA), Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), as well as those wrongly paid to Waterville and Isofoton.

The council, however, requested the government to make its plans to retrieve the  money public. It also requested the government to investigate the misappropriation of over GHC2 billion by public officials, as indicated in the 2012 Auditor General's Report and prosecute culprits accordingly. 

It also said the government should be eo mm ended for abolishing the policy that allowed public officers to purchase state bungalows and vehicles allocated to them.

Merchant Bank sale

According to the council, the government, together with social security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), must provide adequate information on the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz Equity Fund. it advised all political parties, especially the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to stop the partisan manner in which they discussed the Merchant Bank sale in order "to help the ordinary Ghanaian appreciate the real issues about the sale". 

The council also called on the government and SSNIT to explain to the public why the deal offered by Fortiz Private Equity Fund was better than that of First Rand and 
the other applicants. 

State of the economy 

According to the Christian Council, the current economic situation was making it difficult for businesses to thrive, thereby increasing unemployment and the poverty levels of Ghanaians. 

The council advised the Bank of Ghana, as a matter of urgency, to take the necessary steps to reverse the depreciation of the cedi against the major trading currencies such as the dollar. 

It also urged the government to develop the necessary strategies to manage the nation's resources prudently and avoid budget deficits. 

Tobinco Pharmacy and the Food and-Drugs Authority (FDA) 

The council commended the Ministry of Health and parliamentary select Committee on Health for their intervention in the Tobinco- Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) saga. Regulatory authorities, according to the council, must ensure that they applied the necessary sanctions objectively to any entity that operated contrary to their regulations. 

The council also called for the hastening of efforts to solve the impasse, in order to stem tile dwindling fortunes ofTobinco Pharmacy, adding that the FDA must rather use its offices to promote Tobinco and other related companies to make them more viable to be able to compete with those in other parts of the world. need for the Electoral commission (EC) to work closely with political parties, civil society organisations and religious bodies to undertake the necessary electoral reforms. 

The EC was also advised to prepare the voters register on time to give political parties and other stakeholders the needed time to prepare for the next elections, and also develop a "more structured and systemic recruitment and training of election officials."