When his Royal Majesty King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II met President Russell M. Nelson in April 2023, the experience meant “renovation, spiritually, for me,” the Ga Mantse said.
The Ga Mantse — king of the Ga people in Ghana — recalled the “defining, specific” counsel President Nelson offered him, which “reenergized and resuscitated” his own work.
“I have been injected with a certain kind of fire to do the things that [President Nelson] said,” he said.
The Ga Mantse shared this story with Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the latter’s visit to Accra, Ghana, on Feb. 20, the Church’s Africa Newsroom reported.
The diplomatic visit was part of Elder Christofferson’s recent ministry in Africa from Feb. 13-24, which included the countries of Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire.
The Ga Mantse is the revered traditional ruler of the Ga community, the dominant ethnic group in the Greater Accra region. Though the area is home to other ethnic communities, the Ga Mantse’s influence is particularly notable in the Ga community’s traditional governance systems.
During his visit with the king, Elder Christofferson was joined by Elder Michael T. Ringwood of the Presidency of the Seventy. Elders Alfred Kyungu, Adeyinka A. Ojediran and Isaac K. Morrison, General Authority Seventies serving as the Africa West Area presidency, hosted the event at the area offices in Accra.
The meeting included discussion of past and future projects, with the king especially thanking Elder Christofferson for the Church’s refurbishment of the Tackie Tawiah cluster of schools.
He also said that the Church’s humanitarian work in the area is “Christianity in action; it’s God’s work in action. I believe that while my people have benefited from it physically, it also aids in the extension of trying to find a spiritual meaning to what we profess or what we are preaching.”
The king said humanitarian work is important to him. He has pursued sanitation projects, school renovations, clean water facilities, youth empowerment, vocational training, health clinics, hospital renovations and more.
Some of these projects were done in collaboration with the Church, which the king supported. In particular, he helped promote the Strengthening Families Conference in Accra in September 2020.
He is currently collaborating with the Church on several projects, including an effort to provide boreholes and safe drinking water to underprivileged communities. The king has also committed to visiting all schools benefiting from the boreholes and ensuring school administrators know that the Church facilitated them.
The Ga Mantse’s newest goal is to build a children’s hospital. The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra — the largest and one of the most well-known teaching hospitals in the country — has donated an adjacent plot of 5 acres to support this endeavor, specifically for Accra’s 430,000 children below the age of 10.
Elder Christofferson asked members of the Church’s Welfare and Self-Reliance group in the Africa West Area offices to explore how the Church might support the children’s hospital project.
He also presented the king with a framed painting of the Savior holding a lamp.
“We hope you think of us when you look at this,” Elder Christofferson said, and added that perhaps the king could hang the painting in the children’s hospital after its completion.
The meeting closed with Church representatives and the king saying they look forward to many productive future interactions.
