Bishop Heward-Mills Attacks NDC & NPP

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, leader of the Lighthouse Chapel International (LCI) says he sees no difference between the National Democratic Congress (NDC)-led government and that of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as far as the fight against corruption is concerned. The leader of a thriving charismatic church with over 1200 branches in 60 countries said both the NDC and the NPP have woefully failed to meet the expectations of Ghanaians and that the only reason for voting for one against the other is to prevent them from becoming overly corrupt by staying in government for too long. �Corruption and the failure to provide the basic needs and infrastructure for Ghanaians to get out of poverty are the main common features of both parties and that is what Ghanaians should be focusing on in order to prevent one of them from ruling for longer than necessary. No matter which of the two is in power we can�t expect any marked differences in our lives,� Heward-Mills noted during a sermon to mark the 50th Anniversary of the University of Ghana Medical School last week. He noted that when the NPP was in power, there were wild stories of corruption in government, and that created the impression that the folks in NDC were angels; but over the past four years that the NDC has been in power, there have been very wild stories of corruption about the NDC too. Bishop Heward-Mills noted that both the NPP and NDC have demonstrated gross incompetence in the area of meeting the basic needs of Ghanaians such water, electricity, shelter and even food, and they have both failed to create the environment for wealth creation in the country. The Lighthouse leader is talking politics at a time his contemporary from the International Central Gospel Church, Pastor Mensah Otabil, has come under public scrutiny over statements he made on free education. But Bishop Heward-Mills said the fact that he is talking politics does not mean his church should be tagged with a political party. �I have done two polls in my church, I realized the church is sometimes 50% + one for NPP, and on other occasions 50% + one for NDC � so no one can say we belong to one political party,� he said. The Bishop however did not tell what necessitated the internal poll in his church and when it was conducted. His church has millions of loyal members whose decisions are influenced by his teachings and it is most likely what he says would influence their decisions at the December 7 polls- an obvious neck-to-neck race between Nana Akufo Addo, presidential candidate of the NPP and John Dramani Mahama, President and candidate of the NDC. Facts Sheet On Heward-Mills Qualified as a medical doctor in 1989 from the University of Ghana Medical School Ordained into the ministry in 1990 at the Victory Church, London Consecrated as a Bishop in 1996, by the International Ministerial Council of Great Britain Founded the Lighthouse Chapel International in 1988 � Lighthouse Chapel International now has over 1200 churches � Lighthouse Chapel International churches are in 60 countries worldwide. Has trained 1248 pastors worldwide Has trained 362 lay ministers worldwide Has sent 168 missionaries worldwide Has built 241 church buildings worldwide Has authored 30 bestselling English books Has over 6 million books in print � Books are available in 30 different titles and have been translated into 8 different languages : English, French, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Amharic and Korean Established the Lighthouse Christian Mission Schools in 1995 Established the Anagkazo Bible and Ministry Training Centre in 1997 Established the Healing Jesus Crusade in 2004 Established the �Work of Ministry� Conference in 2004 Established the Lighthouse Mission Hospital in 2006 Established the Healing Jesus Medical Missions in 2006 Established the Lighthouse Christian Orphanage 2006 Established the Help the Helpless Charity in 2007 Founded the National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches (NACCC), Ghana in 1999 Serves on the board of Church Growth International Serves on the committee of the Pentecostal World Fellowship