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General News of Saturday, June 8, 2019
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2019-06-08
Dennis Adjei Dwomoh, lawyer
A private lawyer, Dennis Adjei Dwomoh, asked Parliament, instead of calling for a new law to crack down on the so-called manipulative men of God, to enforce the old ones.
According to Mr. Dwomoh, all the excesses of the church have been widely treated by law in the context of the many institutions of the state of the country.
"So, for example, the department of urban and rural planning decided to locate a church," he said in Joy News's news badysis program, adding that if the ministry had maintained the zoning policy, there would be no church at unauthorized location.
Last Wednesday, lawmakers asked the House to consider enacting a law to crack down on so-called men of God and their churches, who are being exploited.
MP for Mfantseman, Ekow Hayford, called for the creation of an independent body "backed by law and devoid of any policy", which would investigate and control church activities.
Some parliamentarians want new law for churches
But the Ghana Conference of Charismatic Bishops said that members of Parliament had attempted to legislate against churches suspected of defrauding their flock on the pretext of faith.
"… we do not support any idea of legislating or controlling the beliefs, beliefs or religious beliefs of our citizens," said the bishops in an official statement on the subject.
The bishops said Ghanaians go to churches and prophets to find solutions to the myriad of problems they face as citizens.
"The problems faced by Ghanaians are often not solved in practice by the authorities. When people are hopeless, they turn to their prophets and to their God to obtain the salvation of what should have been and could have been solved by the national authorities, "say the bishops.
The charismatic bishops have instead asked Parliament to pay attention to the many problems that Ghanaians have been forced to solve through prayer.
The Conference of Charismatic Bishops of Ghana is composed of bishops of different Christian denominations and cathedrals from all parts of the country.
But the Conference of Bishops is not the only one to demonstrate, they are joined by Ningo-Prampram Samuel George and other Christians who consider this attempt as an affront to their religion.
Mr. Dwomoh is not surprised at the confusion created by the proposal.
He asked why the country would need a new law. There are many others that, if applied, can serve the same purpose.
The Charismatic Bishops' Conference of Ghana is composed of bishops of different Christian denominations.
"How many churches have building permits in this country? And when you enter a church with a single door, in case of emergency, what happens? Do they have fire extinguishers as provided by law? As we speak, all these things are not done.
Citing section 289, Mr. Dwomoh stated that there was a plethora of laws against nuisance, badault and battery – all of which are perpetrated by so-called men of God – and that if the law was applied, there would be no need to change the rules.
He said that it would be impossible to group all churches under the same law when they all have different practices.
Unsure of what MPs seek to regulate with the new law, the lawyer asked: "Do you regulate church, pastors or practice and manifestation of faith?
"If you are raised in a Catholic school, there are cases where you will think that someone who claps and shouts out loud may not be ordained. And that's why I'm new that churches should not be regulated because there is confusion as to what exactly we are regulating. "
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