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Rt. Rev. Samuel Yaw Dua Dodd is new Methodist Bishop of Tarkwa Diocese
• Rt. Rev. Dr Dodd (right) receiving a bible from Most Rev. Dr. Boafo (left)
Rt. Rev. Dr. Samuel Yaw Dua Dodd has been inducted as the fifth Bishop of the Tarkwa Diocese of the Methodist Church Ghana (MCG).
The induction service, held at the Gaddiel Acquah Memorial Methodist Church at Tarkwa, in the Western Region, was jointly officiated by Most Rev Paul K. Boafo, the Presiding Bishop, William Orleans Oduro Esq, the Lay President, Rt. Rev. Michael Agyarkwa Bossman, the Administrative Bishop, all of MCG and other reverend ministers present.
It was attended by ministers and lay members of the church from all the dioceses in the country.
by Rt Rev Beka (left), Bishop of Tamale
Diocese and Rt Rev Amponsah Donkor,
immediate-past Bishop of Tarkwa Diocese
signing the Induction
Declaration document
Most Rev. Dr. Boafo thanked God for His continuous “provision of leaders of God to lead His people.”
He said the new Bishop was coming in at a time when leadership was most needed in every corner of the church, and that Rt. Rev. Dr Dodd was a leader chosen by God to shepherd the entire region.
He advised Rt Rev Dr. Dodd not to discriminate but spread the good news to the length and breadth of the Diocese and any other place he finds himself.
Most Rev. Dr. Boafo charged the new Bishop to fight against the destruction of the environment and water bodies by illegal mining activities.
He also urged him to collaborate with political leaders, traditional authorities and all opinion leaders to find ways of educating people about the effects of illegal mining.
Most Rev Titus Awotwi Pratt, who delivered the sermon, said it was God who had called the new Bishop into the high office, so He would endow him with the needed wisdom and grace to lead the flock.
He advised Rt. Rev. Dr Dodd to rely on God to lead him in all his endeavours, “and also work with people with special gifts to compliment your gifts.”
Rt. Rev. Dr Dodd is married to Rita Dodd and they are blessed with six children – Nathaniel Kofi Sam, Vida Amoasi, Christina Haizel Amoakoa Dodd, Jael Hephzibah Kukua Dodd, Daniel Akwesi Kensa Pieh, Sammy Penney.
Rt. Rev. Dr. Dodd is a child of the manse and the last child of his parents the late Very Rev. Nathaniel Dua Dodd and Mrs. Mercy Dodd. He is a product of the Bamianko, Senya Bereku, Asamankese and Goaso Methodist, and the Mfantsipim School.
Before going through ministerial training at the Trinity Theological Seminary from 2000 to 2003, Rt Rev Dr Dodd did his teacher’s training at the Assin Foso Teacher Training College and taught Mathematics and Science at Assin Foso Methodist Junior High School.
He has served in the Tarkwa Diocese, Koforidua Diocese and the Accra Diocese in various capacities as Circuit Minister, Superintendent Minister and Diocesan Youth Organiser, among other assignments.
From Efreda Ennin, Tarkwa
CAPTION 1: Rt. Rev. Dr Dodd (left) receiving a bible from Most Rev. Dr. Boafo (right)
CAPTION 2: The new Bishop (middle) being robbed by Rt Rev Beka (left), Bishop of Tamale Diocese and Rt Rev Amponsah Donkor, immediate-past Bishop of Tarkwa Diocese
CAPTION 3: Rt. Rev. Dr Dodd (seated) signing the Induction Declaration document
One of the issues we have been grappling with as a nation is corruption, and it has had such a devastating effect on our national development. I have been convinced that until morality becomes the foundation upon which our governance system is built, we can never go forward as a nation.
Our traditional practices, which have shaped our cultural beliefs, have always espoused values that have kept us along the straight and the narrow and have preserved our societies since ancient times.
These are values that frown on negative habits like stealing, cheating, greediness, selfishness, etc. Our grandparents have told us stories of societies where stealing was regarded as so shameful that offenders, when caught, have on a number of instances committed suicide.
In fact, my mother told me of a story where a man who was living in the same village as her mother (my grandmother), after having been caught stealing a neighbour’s cockerel, out of shame committed suicide on a mango tree. Those were the days that shameful acts were an abomination.
Tegare worship, a traditional spiritual worship during which the spirit possesses the Tegare Priest and begins to reveal secrets, was one of the means by which the society upheld African values in the days of my grandmother and the early childhood days of my mother.
Those were the days when the fear of being killed by Tegare prevented people from engaging in anti-social vices. These days, people sleeping with other people’s wives are not uncommon.
These wrongful behaviour was not countenanced at all by Tegare. One was likely going to lose his life on days that Tegare operates, and so unhealthy habits like coveting your neighbour’s wife was a taboo.
Stealing of other people’s farm produce, for instance, could mean certain death or incapacitation of the whole or part of the body in the full glare of everybody. People realised that there were consequences for wrongdoing, and this went a long way to motivate the society to adhere to right values.
Imagine a President being sworn into office and whoever administers the oath says, “Please say this after me: I, Mr. …., do solemnly swear by God, the spirits of my ancestors and the spirits ruling in Ghana, that should I engage in corrupt acts, may I and my family become crippled, may madness become entrenched in my family, may incurable sicknesses and diseases be my portion and that of my family, both immediate and extended.”
Can you imagine a situation where a few weeks afterwards the President goes to engage in corrupt acts and we hear of his sudden demise or incapacitation and confessing that he engaged in corrupt acts before passing or before the incapacitation—and the effect it will have on his successor? I believe we have to critically examine this option to curb corruption.
My grandmother gave me an eyewitness account of one such encounter where a woman died instantly after the Tegare Priest had revealed a wrong attitude she had displayed during the performance on one of the days scheduled for Tegare spirit manifestation.
According to her story, the Priest, after he had been possessed by the spirit, declared that for what the woman had done, he would not forgive her and that he would kill. Instantly, according to my grandmother, the lady fell down suddenly and she died—just like what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5.
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