{"id":5896,"date":"2011-08-20T13:43:40","date_gmt":"2011-08-20T17:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=5896"},"modified":"2011-08-20T06:12:40","modified_gmt":"2011-08-20T10:12:40","slug":"ghanas-opposition-party-sets-up-christian-muslim-prayer-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/08\/ghanas-opposition-party-sets-up-christian-muslim-prayer-groups","title":{"rendered":"Ghana’s opposition party sets up Christian, Muslim prayer groups"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The leadership of the African nation of Ghana’s opposition New Patriotic Party has directed all of\u00a0its party branches\u00a0nationwide to set up prayer groups, both Christian and Muslim, by August 20 “to seek God\u2019s favor in their quest to win the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.”<\/p>\n

Earlier, the party had criticized Ghana’s President John Atta Mills for setting up a prayer camp for\u00a0leaders in\u00a0his administration.<\/p>\n

The Ghanian news website GhanaWeb reported that\u00a0NPP General Secretary Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie denied the NPP “had shifted the goal posts.” Instead, he insisted \u201cwe believe in the efficacy of prayer. But we also believe that when God gives you direction, you must also work towards that. So as you continue to pray to God, you must also act.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
President Mills holds a Bible used during his 2009 swearing-in<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Governments are there to govern, so as you put your trust in the Lord and God shows you the way, you must demonstrate that — by working to ensure that everything is fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

An oil-producing state, Ghana is the site of Lake Volta, the world’s largest man-made lake, which generates electricity for Ghana and surrounding states.\u00a0It had\u00a0the world’s fastest growing economy in 2011 — with an growth rate of about 20.146\u00a0percent — according to the International Monetary Fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to Citi News, Afriyie said both the Bible and the Quran admonish the faithful to trust in the Lord, especially when they face a battle.<\/p>\n

It is\u00a0therefore only natural that\u00a0Ghana’s main opposition party would\u00a0\u201cseek the face of the Lord\u201d in the crucial 2012 electoral battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that if we put our trust in the Lord and in Allah, as our Muslim brothers will say, then God will manifest Himself in our direction and ensure that we win the 2012 elections,” said Afriyie.\u00a0“We believe in the efficacy of prayer and we believe that if we pray and we are sincere about the prayer, God will answer us in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u00a0said the present\u00a0party’s executives already had a prayer camp in the party headquarters where they prayed from \u201c4 a.m. to 6 a.m. everyday\u201d for the party \u201cand we believe that the successes that we chalked in our presidential and parliamentary primaries were all due to the prayers that we prayed to Almighty God.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The leadership of the African nation of Ghana’s opposition New Patriotic Party has directed all of\u00a0its party branches\u00a0nationwide to set up prayer groups, both Christian and Muslim, by August 20 “to seek God\u2019s favor in their quest to win the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.” Earlier, the party had criticized Ghana’s President John Atta Mills…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,55,8],"tags":[1392,2223],"class_list":["post-5896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","category-islam","category-news","tag-ghana","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nGhana's opposition party sets up Christian, Muslim prayer groups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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