Editorial
Human rights versus religious belief
Dear Editor
The Apostolic Faith Churches of Portland Oregon in Ghana believes one should marry within their churches and would subject all those who do not comply to all sorts of inhumane discipline.
The church would not recognise you as a Christian and would ask you to refrain from doing any ministry work placed in your hands.
If you are a chorister, they would ask you to step down and some of the pastors would even go to the extent of sending some of the children who believe otherwise to psychiatric hospitals for treatment thinking that marrying outside their faith is a mental illness.
This and other practices of the church make it look like a cult. The church, in their ingnorance, believes that anybody who wears ear rings and any woman who wears trousers would not go to heaven.
I find it so disheartening to accept the fact that a church from the US where liberty is highly stressed practises such belief. Why is the Supreme Court of the United States silent about this matter? Why has SCOTUS allowed a church from the US to practise this thing in any part of the world?
Ebenezer K N Baiden-Amissah
P. O. BOX GP 801, Accra.
0245310380
Editorial
Merits and demerits of scraping betting tax
Dear Editor,
Over the past years, a lot of concerns have been raised about the rise of sports betting companies in the country, their operations, and how it impacted negatively on the youth of the country.
I have also witnessed how some of the youth go to the extent of borrowing money from friends or use companies’ money to stake bets, which they were not guaranteed of winning.
Due to this, I was happy when the previous government introduced the betting tax, as I felt it would deter the youth from engaging in it.
However, some Ghanaians hold the view that the betting tax would help create employment.
It wasn’t surprising to see the excitement that greeted the announcement of the scrapping of the tax by the Finance Minister.
My worry now is how, as a country, the youth can be discouraged from engaging in betting.
I believe that as the betting tax has been scrapped, it is about time that the government finds ways of addressing the issue of betting among the youth as it is becoming more serious than before.
I believe that there should be a multi-stakeholder engagement between the various stakeholders to proffer solutions to address them.
Editorial
Rail crossing point at circle- Kaneshie road needs attention
Dear Editor,
I read with happiness a letter published in the previous edition about the poor state of the rail crossing stretch of the Circle-Kaneshie road.
I totally agree with the concerns raised by the writer and I wish to add my voice to the call on the authorities to quickly work on that stretch of the road.
What the writer left out was the occasional happenings when vehicles break down on the rail line. I have witnessed that before.
It is not a comfortable thing driving on it at all. It is a huge dent on the beauty the interchange was expected to bring to the area.
The traffic it creates is a major inconvenience to people who are rushing to work.
I wish to appeal to the authorities to quickly do something about that portion of the road to make it convenient for drivers. Thank you for the space.
Maxwell Amamoo,
Odorkor
