Rosa: I'm happy with what the Lord has done

Mirror (Front lead) May 3/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

Exactly a fortnight ago when news broke that the Archbishop of the Action Faith International Ministries, Nicholas Duncan-Williams, had remarried to an American trade consultant, the issue generated a lot of debate.
There were many who thought the move by the Archbishop was wrong because he was a man of God. But to others, there was nothing wrong with it.
In an exclusive interview with then Rosa Whitaker, now Rosa Duncan-Williams, as to what her thoughts were about those comments, she told The Mirror: “I do not want to be drawn into this debate.”
“All I can say is that there are many schools of thought by renowned theologians about remarriage. Some very well respected ones speak against remarriage and others speak for it but I will not allow myself to be drawn into the debate,” she added.
Rosa, the founder of The Whitaker Group (TWG), the foremost US consulting firm facilitating trade and investment and business in Africa, said there were many works of God that needed to be fulfilled and it was her resolve to focus on that.
She said she was a happy person and would not allow what the Lord had done to take that happiness away from her.
She said “you will never be happy if you worry about what others say about you”, adding that this was a saying from a renowned speaker on marriage, which guides what she does on this earth.
Speaking in a soft voice and looking well relaxed, she said her works over the past 25 years had been geared towards poverty alleviation on the continent of Africa and noted that her marriage to the Archbishop was a blessing because she found both of them doing something pleasing to God.
“I have been coming to Ghana for many years and met a lot of people while doing my work but I never knew that God had another mission for me,” she said.
Rosa said “marrying the Archbishop is God’s purpose and destiny for me and so far we are a happy couple and by His Grace and faith, it shall be so forever”.
She said with God all things were possible and having to get married to the Archbishop who needed a wife to be with was something arranged and destined by God.
The issue about the Archbishop’s children had been one issue that many had raised and wondered whether Rosa was going to cope with the children who were already grown.
But before the interview, the last born of the Archbishop was all over Rosa as if she was his real mum.
The couple, in their maiden public appearance after their private wedding, had gone to the Baptist School Complex Orphanage in Trotor in the Eastern Region to check on the inmates and pledged to help them with a borehole, and extension of electricity to the school.
In an answer to how she was coping with the children of the Archbishop, Rosa replied: “We have a great relationship. I have told them what I can offer them.”
“I am resolved than ever to create a refuge at home to enable the Archbishop do what the good Lord has blessed him to do.”
Her answers made the reporter curious to know where she and Duncan-Williams met to become a couple today, and she answered thus: “I have been coming to Ghana since 1994 to do my work and I have been attending church anytime I came around. As to where we met, we met on the altar.”
She described her marriage to the Archbishop as a spiritual pursuit.
Rosa was the first-ever Assistant U.S. Trade representative for Africa under the administrations of Presidents George Bush and William Jefferson Clinton.
Prior to founding the TWG, she developed and implemented the famous African Growth and Opportunities Act popularly called AGOA.
With more than 25 years of experience on the African soil, Rosa has an extensive network of contacts in the US government and business community as well as the public and private sectors throughout Africa.
Her job takes her around the globe particularly on the continent of Africa where she serves emerging economies and diverse industries including agriculture, horticulture, apparel, retail, manufacturing, information technology and telecommunications and that makes some wonder whether she is going to have time for the marriage.
“I am well prepared for this marriage and I believe God to make it work even as I do my job, which is about poverty alleviation on the continent,” she said.
She said the two understood each other very well particularly when it came to what their roles were as per their God-given talents and it was the good Lord who was going to guide them on the journey they had set off.
Rosa said she was very instrumental in getting to Ghana Kosmos Energy, the American company that struck oil in the Cape Three Points area of the Western Region, and noted that she was bringing another company that would be in the diamond sector.
“This company will mine the diamonds and process them before export,” she said.
According to her, having a processing plant means that an industry will be established to employ more people to work there.
Rosa pledged her commitment to Ghana and indicated her resolve to do all in her power towards the economic and social uplift of the country.