The Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George has cautioned Parliament against attempts to regulate churches in Ghana.
According to him, any such attempt will amount to a sacrilege, and pointed to the country's statutes.
"...the constitution states that everybody will have the freedom of religion and so I don’t know how you may want to regulate freedom. You cannot legislate on the Holy Spirit," he warned.
Background
Parliament is set to investigate regulations governing church activities in Ghana, especially those exploiting the gullibility of the public.
Some legislators on Wednesday asked the House to consider enacting a law to clamp down on these exploitative self-styled Men of God and their churches.
In a statement on the Floor on activities of churches, MP for Mfantsiman Constituency, Ekow Hayford said it was about time the State took drastic action against pastors who abuse people’s rights through a legislation and an independent body to manage church administration.
Backing his colleague, MP for Ablekuma Central, Ebenezer Nartey argued that some pastors in the country do not deserve to carry themselves as such.
“Mr Speaker, you are Reverend Minister yourself, and I believe strongly that you have been monitoring our TVs and radio stations and we all see the attitudes and behaviour of some pastors and some churches,” he said.
Sharing a personal experience, he said some of the pastors are destroying people.
“Sometimes, we ask ourselves is this indeed, Christianity? Mr Speaker, you will see a 60-year-old man or woman being asked to carry 50 kilograms of cement in the name of deliverance, water, bottled water is being sold in the churches for ¢2000, ¢3000 in the name of deliverance. Meanwhile, the same person cannot even get ¢200 to go Korle Bu to find what is wrong with him or her?
“Mr Speaker, it is time that this House will take a decision to see how best we will be able to calm down on some of these churches,” he stated.
Following the deliberations on the proliferation of churches at the expense of human rights and the use of working hours for church activities.the Speaker, Rev Prof Aaron Michael Oquaye, directed that the Joint Committees of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, reports back to the House in a month's time.
Charlatans? Yes, But....
But speaking to the issue on Citi Eyewitness News, Wednesday, Hon Sam George said even though there are 'charlatans' around, "the church and religious organizations are already regulated in this country", and urged Parliament to adopt a more workable solution.
"We have the Christian Council, Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches. What we can do as a state is to collaborate with the leadership of these churches. They have even said that what they want parliament to do is to strengthen these organizations and make it mandatory for every church to come under the umbrella of one of these recognized bodies. Parliament and the state should tread cautiously as issues of faith cannot be legislated even with logic”, he added.
The position of the law
Article 21/1 (C) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana says: “all persons shall have the - freedom to practise any religion and to manifest such practice.
Also, Article 26/1 says “every person is entitled to enjoy, practise, profess, maintain and promote any culture, language, tradition or religion subject to the provisions of this Constitution.”
The law also provides that the enjoyment of such rights must not infringe on the freedoms of others.
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
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Public Notice As a measure of ensuring effective Monitoring of Conduct and Operations of the Christian Ministers as well as maintaining Ministerial Service Integrity with the Republic of Ghana. We the Executive Council of both NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN BIBLE SCHOOLS - NACBS and ASSOCIATION OF ORDANED CHRISTIAN MINISTERS OF GHANA - AOCMGH establish ‘’MINISTERAL ORDINATION & LICENSING BOARD’’ as regulatory body and authorized to passed this order to take effect from May 2019 that: 1a. No bible school accredited or non- accredited shall conduct Ministerial Ordination Service to any student or Believer who passed out from their Bible Training Colleges (Institution) b. Only Church Based Bible School who train their own church ministers are permitted to conduct Ministerial Ordination Service in collaboration with the mother church for the trained student. c. All non – church Based Bible School shall conduct Graduation Service for their respective students. d. Anything concern Ministerial Ordination by non church Bare Bible School, the school Board shall seek prior approval from the above Board and receive Ordination Application Forms for the student which will enable the Board to ascertain necessary information needed. 2a. No Church or Ministry shall conduct Ministerial Ordination Service to any reason (Believer) who is not part or legitimate member of the church. b. Church or Ministry shall conduct ministerial ordination service for their own legitimate member (Believers) only been appreciated to be ordained as minister to serve the church. 3a.No individual ministers of any Rank shall conduct ministerial ordination service to any reason (Believer) who is not part or legitimate member of the Church or Ministry established by such minister. b. Individual ministers of any Rank shall conduct ministerial development and empowerment Training Seminar, workshop and other conferences to upgrade the knowledge of the Ministers issue out participation certificate only. No ordination service is permitted. c. Anything concern ministerial ordination by any individual minister after Training seminar or workshop shall seek prior approval from the above Board by feeding the Board with all necessary information concern each candidate through ordination Application Forms. 4a. No Christian Book Shop shall sell ministerial identity material especially clericals clerical shirt including other Garment or vestment to any person (Believers) without requesting the identity such as ministerial license, and contact Address etc. b. Clerical and all other ministerial identity materials shall be sold recognition or Authority by the Bible church and above Board. 5. No fashion designer or seamstress shall by money influence sew ministerial Garment or clerical shirt for any one claim to be Minister but not or without registering such person (Believers) identity as minister. 6. Serious sanction await anyone who find himself as a source of ministerial malpractice and abuse of service integrity and so fails to treat this order serious. Wish all to treat this order very serious to help Restore, Protect, Monitor and Maintain Ministerial Operational Integrity and Christianity faith across the Globe. Contact: 024366923, 0246474353, 0506738040 By Executive Council 1. National Association of Christian Bible Schools. 2. Association of Ordained Christian Ministers of Ghana.
The babies with sharp teeth are released to do what they best do. Spewing out lies, absurdity and unproved allegations about their opponents. My advice and warning to discerning Ghanaians is not to expect much from them, for, they can not otherwise. That is sadly the NDC's understanding of opposition politicking. And this clearly disqualify it to be an alternative Government in opposition with best possible policies, concepts and ideas to solve problems. I doubt if Sammy Gyamfi, Sam George and their cohort have the competence, let alone to expect them argue constructively to present alternative policies and Government programs worthy of solving any problem in Ghana. I become very sad whhen I hear them speak with such insolence, because they seem to underrate the intelligence of Ghanaians.
Hmmm, sometimes I wonder how some people were voted into power asparliamentarians. Someone who is to protect the people talking like this. Who says churches can not be controlled? Sam George you agree there are chalatans yet we can not control them. After Jonestown US gave where churches can go. You dont deserve to be in parliament. ***barred word*** if you cant protect the very people who voted for you.
everytime it is time the church (well am not surprised because we are in the endtimes) yes there are fake pastors around and in the same way there are fake imams and mallams and fake traditionalist so in all fairness legislations should be drafted to regulate mosques and traditional worshipers as well.
So everyone can do whatever he or she wants eeh. A parliamentarian indeed.
I support parliament 100%....they should regulate churches.
Yes you can, Rwanda, has done just that to bring sanity into how people worship in that country . No one man or woman church, and also no self anointed spiritual charlatans in that country, Ghana can do the same. All these corrupt money launders who claim to be bishops, and angels must be checked. Sanity must prevail in our religious dis course, yes we can regulate the cacophony in religion in Ghana.
NAM2, education alone is not enough to stop pple from doing bad. Dont you know some pple are highly educated and yet they commit all kinds of offences?
The way some churches in Ghana conduct their services leaves much to be desired. Yes, the Christian Council in Ghana must be strengthened with rules and regulations to streamline worship practices. Freedom of worship does not connote you can do all kinds of craazy stuff in the name of worshiping God. How can you ask somebody to carry a bag of cement and walk around and say you are healing the person. Of what? That's craaziness.
this man is ***barred word***, this is retail politics,cheap talk