Direct Speaker inquiry into possible regulation of churches

General News of Friday, 31 May 2019

Source: Ghanacrusader.com

2019-05-31

Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, has directed the Joint Committee of Youth, Sports and Culture and Legal Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs to investigate the possibility of regulating churches and other religious groups in the country.

The Joint Committee has submitted a report to the House.

The Speaker gave the guideline after the fact that he stood for MP for Mfantseman, Ekow Kwansah Hayford, on regulation of churches in Ghana.

He must be in the position of being a member of the Constitutional Court.

He said, "If we have to make certain statements it should be provided for by law and if they have to fulfill certain obligations to the society in which they live, it should be provided for by law."

According to the Speaker, there is a need to seriously consider the country's development difficulties as a national issue and make recommendations that should be allowed, in the name of religion, use work hours to worship.

Professor Mike Oquaye is said to be in the business of being paid.

He warned that he should not be allowed to practice his life, and that he should not be allowed to do so.

"We are living in a country where we keep sick people in camps, but when they deteriorate, they rush them to Korle Bu."

"Doctors are accountable for their profession and yet these people can not be held for malpractice. What kind of unbridled liberty can that be, "he queried?

In other countries doctors and nurses, he said, are required to report to the police when a patient is admitted to hospital in very bad condition.

"That is how a nation develops," he stated.

In the statement, Ekow Hayford had argued that despite the Constitution granting religious freedom, it has become necessary to consider some form of regulation on church activities.

According to him, the estimated number of churches, estimated to be over 10,000, has attracted charlatans and imposters who parade the streets and fill the media space peddling false wares.

The situation, he said, is a sad reflection of the state of the country in which the rights of the victim are guaranteed. Articles 21 and 26 of the 1992 Constitution.

He lamented that charlatans parading as pastors and prophets prey on the poor and innocent by feasting on their vulnerabilities.

"In the light of this, it is necessary to introduce some form of regulation in the activities of churches and religious gatherings," he stated.

MPs who contributed to the statement competing in the country.

Some churches, they said, have inadvertently become a nuisance and a threat to society.

The members arguing that some churches have become virtually businesses and avenues for making money and extortion and do not honor any tax obligation.

Member for Central Ablekuma, Ebenezer Nii Laryea contentious persons who are in need of care and education. instead of preaching salvation they tend to punish followers with very strange healing procedures and offering lotto numbers.