He said citizens should desist from running the nation down and rather speak well about it as the tongue held the power of life and death.

In an interview with the Daily?Graphic to share his New Year message, the Presby Moderator stressed: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

 It is, therefore, important for us to speak life into Ghana so that it lives.”

"If Ghana is going to do well in 2024, Ghanaians would have to learn to say good things about our nation.

"The more we speak good things about our nation, the better we become.

The more we tend to look down on our nation and speak evil about it, the more our country goes bad,” he said.

First Message

This was the Moderator’s first New Year message since assuming the mantle after his induction last December.

Rt Rev. Kwakye was elected the 19th Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at Abetifi last August.

He succeeded Very Rev. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante.

Good things

Rt Rev. Kwakye said encouraging people to speak well of the country must not be misconstrued as trying to prevent people from voicing out the ills in society or governance.

“Encouraging people not to run the country down does not mean that when things are not going well they should keep quiet.

“Of course, people must speak against the ills and all the bad things that are drawing our nation back, but we must do so constructively and not run the nation down," he stressed.

The Moderator stated that Ghana was so much respected across the world and thus the need to uphold the image to project the country further among the community of nations, attracting not only the goodwill but also the support and investment it needed.

He also said the country was well placed to show itself as the best nation for Africa, but it was unable to do that effectively because of the lack of confidence in it by its own people.

"The reputation we have outside Ghana is a very good one.

This is because people have high regard for us but unfortunately, some people have the propensity to do what is wrong.

“Ghana is well placed to remain the shining star of Africa, but it is not able to do so effectively because from morning to evening, people sit on the radio to bastardise our nation. 
“Going forward that must stop," he stated.

Remain hopeful

Every year, he said God gave Ghanaians some goodness for which people must have hope.

He said the day Ghanaians lost hope, the future of the country would no longer be secured and that "would mark the destruction of our nation".

He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to keep on hoping that God in His mercies would visit the country for better things to happen.

"So I have great hope for 2024 and since Christmas, I have been urging all the members of our church to focus on positive thoughts and things that build," he said.

Politics

On politics of religion, he said Ghanaians should not allow religion or politics to divide them and that they should be united.

"Let the political class elect their flag bearers and let the people of the nation make their decision," he said.

Rt Rev. Kwakye said he was thankful to God for the nation as it was the beacon of hope for most African countries so far as democracy was concerned.

Ghana, he said, represented the ideas that most African countries were looking for and added: "I am personally excited that I am in this country".

He said with turmoil in some countries, Ghana had experienced relative peace for some time now.

However, he said the economy was not doing well at all and that there was a need to take steps to reverse the situation.