West Africa province elects new primate

The Anglican Church of the Province of West Africa on September 28 elected the Rt Revd Dr Solomon Johnson as its ninth Archbishop and Primate.

Dr Johnson, who is currently the Bishop of Gambia, was elected to be the next Primate for the province at a special synod held at Cuttington University, Suacoco, Bong Country, Liberia, between September 25 to 28.

He succeeds The Most Revd Dr Justice Akrofi who has been Primate since 2003.
The synod also agreed a proposal to adopt a constitutional change that would see the creation of two internal provinces with two archbishops, in the style of the Church of England.

The two new internal provinces are the Province of Ghana, with the Rt Rev. Daniel Yinka Saro as its archbishop, and Johnson will head up the Province of West Africa as well as acting as primate.

– With files from The Episcopal News Service