Blame the church for endemic corruption – Rev Dr Joseline Fugar

The Chairperson of the Kumasi Presbytery of the Global Evangelical Church is blaming corruption in Ghana on the failure of the church to impact the lives of its members.

Rev Dr Joseline Fugar said the wide-held belief that Ghana is a Christian nation is not enough when majority of Ghanaians who are members of the church continue to be involved in corruption.

Ghana’s Corruption Index performance over the years has been abysmally poor.

The country was ranked 75th out of 180 countries by Transparency International in the Global Corruption Perception Index in 2020.

Though the country’s performance is an improvement of the 2019 and 2018 report, having moved five places from 78 to 75, Rev Dr Fugar believes high incidence of corruption where the citizenry want to amass wealth through dubious means at the expense of others is dangerous.

According to her, corruption which is endemic in the country transcends from ordinary Ghanaians to those in leadership positions.

“It is endemic and that is the reason why I think that in a way, we have failed even as a church.

We have failed to bring people the true gospel of Christ; that gospel that transforms human beings. The gospel that transforms them so that their lives are transformed that they know what is right and what is wrong.”

Speaking at the 2022 Representative Conference of the Church in Kumasi over the weekend, she blamed the church for contributing to the canker by failing to bring the true gospel that transform members of the church.

“Corruption is like, it’s gone through the whole fiber of society; from the messenger right through to the head. Everywhere you go, there is a level of corruption”.  She said.

“Nobody wants to do anything sacrificially anymore in this nation. Its always what it is in it for me and that’s not going to help us as a nation,” she said.

Speaking on the on the theme, “Faithful Stewardship: My year of Complete Loyalty”, Rev Fugar reiterated the need for Ghanaians to put the country first in all endeavours.

“We need people who can be loyal to our nation who will put the nation ahead of their own personal interest. That’s what I believe will put the nation forward.”

“Even in Christendom, we are interested much more in what do I get out of this? If I am a Christian, I am going to church because I believe that a miracle will happen. I will find my healing, I will find this; I will find that.

“But knowing how to be loyal to Christ, that is where the problem is. So we have failed as a church and I believe that the church should rise up and get back to the old message of repentance and transformation of human lives. It’s then and only then that we can transform this nation as well.”

Meanwhile, Rev Dr. Fugar expects an end in sight for Ghana’s economic hardships as she called on government to institute measures to alleviate the plight of Ghanaians.