Ghanaians must support measures to fight Ebola - Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury,  the Most Reverend Justin Portal Welby, has encouraged Ghanaians not to be scared of the Ebola disease but rather face the reality of its existence and support the measures being taken to seal it.

Most Rev. Welby said there was no medically demonstrated magic treatment for the disease, and thus urged Ghanaians to watch out for the signs or symptoms for early treatment.

He made this known during an interview with the Daily Graphic at the residence of the British High Commissioner, Mr Jon Benjamin, in Accra during a three-day visit from the United Kingdom to the country. 

The Archbishop,  who was accompanied by his spouse, Caroline, and other clergymen from the Anglican Church, said he was in the country  primarily to visit the various provinces of the Anglican Church, to understand their challenges and to learn from the experiences of the bishops.

Archbishop Welby explained that on being elected as Archbishop of Canterbury in March 2013, he had dedicated himself to paying visits to all the 37 Anglican primates and their provinces before the end of 2014. 

The visit was to express solidarity and gain a better insight and understanding of the work of Anglican churches in their local environment, and Ghana was the 36th province he was visiting.

Most Reverend Welby commended the government on agreeing to set up the headquarters of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) in Ghana. 

He added that though it was a controversial decision, he was impressed that the Ghanaian government took a bold step to get the headquarters set up in Ghana.  

Archbishop Welby said  he had spent the last 10 years studying religious conflicts, but Ghana was not part of the religious conflict zones he identified.

He said he met with a number of religious heads at the inter-faith dialogue conference to deliberate on why it was different in Ghana. 

Ghana’s warm reception

 Some of the activities during his visit included a durbar in Kumasi under Otumfuo Asantehene, an inter-faith Dialogue Conference at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)  and a meeting with the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, at the Flagstaff House in Accra. 

He expressed delight at the warm and friendly reception Ghanaians had shown him during his visit to Ghana.

“Africa is where I feel very much at home more than in most parts of the world,” he added.