SERIOUS PRAYERS! Action Pastor Duncan-Williams in serious prayers for President Mahama (middle), Chief of Staff Prosper Douglas Kweku Bani and Executive Secretary Raymond Atuguba, INSET:Leading clergymen Pastor Onyina, Rev Fred Degbe and Rev Emmanuel Martey, at the luncheon at the Flagstaff House yesterday
For the first time, President John Dramani Mahama has reacted directly to the raging controversy over government’s intention to ‘facilitate’ the trip of 200 pastors to Israel for a pilgrimage, as the pastors demand the identities of the sponsors.
According to the men of God, even though government claimed some philanthropists are footing the $600,000 bill for the Israeli trip, they would want to know their identities and the source of their money.
Apparently frustrated by the twist taken by the planned trip, President Mahama sneaked in the topic on Tuesday when he arranged a meeting with Christian leaders at the Flagstaff House.
The meeting also briefed the President on preparations being made for a planned National Prayer and Fasting day in the first week of April.
At the meeting, a clearly unhappy President Mahama responded to the intense bashings the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has been subjected to since news of the pilgrimage became public, saying, “Unfortunately, the whole intent [of the Israeli Pilgrimage] has been misunderstood and it has created some negative circumstances under which various church groups are writing and saying we don’t want to participate. We respect the various organisations but I want to clarify that it is not from government purse, it is from private sponsorship.”
He said although government is currently experiencing some turbulence in terms of water, electricity crises and industrial challenges, government, with the intervention of prayers, would overcome those crises, virtually throwing his hands up in despair as the crises defy solutions.
Even though in the wake of the controversy all the major Christian bodies officially rejected the government’s invitation to fly to Jerusalem, the President insisted on asking preachers again to indicate whether they are interested in the trip or not.
“We will take what you want; if we should abandon it we will just tell the private sponsors that unfortunately the church groups are not interested in participating…So that they deal directly with you ; government will play no part in facilitating it or something… so I want to get your own idea about it,” he asked.
Present at the meeting were Bishop Dag Hayward Mills of the Light House Chapel, Rev Prof. Emmanuel Martey, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams of the Action Chapel, Rev Fred Degbe, the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Apostle Dr Opoku Onyinah, the erstwhile President of Ghana Pentecostal & Charismatic Council (GPCC), Rev Gideon Titi- Ofei, the General Overseer of Sheepfold Ministry, Rev Christy Doe Tetteh, the General Overseer of Solid Rock Chapel and others.
Divided Front
The clergy in the auditorium
A committee is said to have been put in place to work on a common position.
But even before the committee meets, the pastors are already divided over the issue with some vehemently opposing the move for government sponsorship and facilitation.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that this challenge was thrown to the Christian leaders in a closed door meeting at the Flagstaff House, but there were so much divided opinions among the clergy men about the President’s question that they decided to set up a committee to advise government on the thorny topic.
Even though President Mahama reiterated that Government is in no way funding the trip as reported, government officials failed to mention the names of the alleged philanthropists.
Rev Martey insisted that he would need to know the source of the funding to even consider supporting the proposal, wondering if the sponsors represent gay interests?
According to the Moderator, he would not want to have anything to do with gays and, therefore, the sponsors should be identified.
Bishop Joseph Osei Bonsu, the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, who was not at the meeting, also disagrees with the rationale behind the trip, insisting that the timing is wrong, particularly in the face of national crises.
According to him, the funds for the trip should rather be channelled into poverty eradication programmes.
He said they have not been told about the faces behind the sponsorship and that he would rather advise the sponsors to commit the resources to good use by not giving them to any pastor for a jolly ride to Israel.
He said prayers could be said in Ghana without going to Israel.
However, Bishop Prince Benny Wood, the spokesperson for the Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana, who represents the other side of the divide, describes the government’s offer as a “wonderful experience”.
“We believe that it is a wonderful experience and a wonderful gesture that must be encouraged. We would even want more Christians to be able to make this trip,” he said.
The Trip
The trip to Jerusalem has received widespread condemnation from the general public who are currently reeling under harsh socio-economic conditions in the country.
Several civil society groups such as anti-corruption advocate, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), have condemned the gesture, charging government to abort it whilst encouraging the clergy to reject the invitation.
According to the co-ordinator of the trip, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, who also doubles as the Minister of Youth and Sports, the trip would cost ‘‘only’’ $600,000.
However, critics are suspicious of this figure because they estimate that the flight alone to Israel would consume more than a third of the budget. It is unclear whether the remainder would be sufficient for the accommodation, feeding and per diems of the 200 pastors. Some credible sources put the true cost at approximately $2million.
Discrepancies
Since the media exposé, attempts by government officials to explain details of the trip have yielded some interesting discrepancies.
First, the government attempted to dissociate itself from the trip, as contained in yesterday’s official release from the Ministry of Information and Media Relation.
The release described the President’s encounter with the preachers thus: “Touching on reports of an alleged government arranged trip to Israel for two hundred Christians, the President said his administration is not sponsoring any such trip financially.”
However, the same statement went on to concede that government was “facilitating” the trip, “He explained that government is only facilitating the trip through sponsorship secured for two hundred pastors.”
Critics are finding it difficult differentiating between a “government arranged trip” and a trip being “facilitated” by government.
Also it is unclear, if the invitation from the NDC government was restricted to only pastors or any member of the Christian community selected by their groupings.
Official statements keep interchanging ‘‘Christians’’ with ‘‘pastors’’ as the target of the Israeli invitation.
In the February 15 invitation written by Elvis Afriyie Ankrah to the Christian groups, he stated, “The Government of the Republic of Ghana has secured sponsorship to take two hundred Ghanaians from the Christian Community on a pilgrimage to Israel. Your Council has been allocated ten slots from the list.” Yet in the Information Ministry’s statement, it described the beneficiaries as “Pastors”, “…government is only facilitating the trip through sponsorship secured for two hundred pastors,” the Ministry stated.
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