Members of Parliament are urging for measures to hold in check pastors and churches taking advantage of gullible members of the public.
According to Legislators, the state must intervene by way of legislation to stop what they say is abuses of congregants, especially by ‘one-man’ churches.
MP for Ablekuma Central Ebenezer Nartey who is all such legislation to be enacted in a contribution to a statement on the need for regulation, said some supposed men of God in Ghana are totally unfit.
“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 behavior of some pastors and some churches,”
He added: “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,” Ebenezer Nartey stated.
MP for Ningo Prampram Sam George for his part called for enough consultation before the enactment of any legislation.
“We are guided by the constitution of this country, article 26 (1) which enjoins and entitles everybody the freedom of religious expressions, any move to move into the regulation of religion and religious expression for me may be a step too far.
He furthered: “Mr Speaker, yes it is fine for us to get passionate about such issues but you don’t resolve or tackle such issues with passion because religion like Karl Max said is the opium of the masses and we must handle it and tread cautiously with it.”
Speaker of Parliament Prof Mike Oquaye who himself is a Pastor, commenting on the issue said Church services during working hours must be banned.
He consequently directed the committees on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary affairs and Youth, Sports and Culture to take a critical study of the issue and report back to the house in a month.
