Some Clergy Members Are "Mascotting" For Political Heads And Have Betrayed The President

The founder and leader of the Jesus Generation Sanctuary Church, Rev. Nana Anyane Boadum has descended heavily on the Clergy Association, accusing them of doing the bidding of politicians in the country. Rev. Anyane Boadum slammed the Clergy members for betraying President John Mahama despite his clandestine meeting with them to decide on the expedition by the Christian community to Israel. According to him, the Churches are acting like a sheep in a wolf�s skin, criticizing the President instead of giving an ear to his voice. Following the turn of events of the christian pilgrims to Israel, some clergy members and politicians have voiced their sentiments to the Presidency for supporting such initiative when there are several challenges that the country is grappling with. Government over the past weeks indicated that the Christians� pilgrimage would be entirely sponsored by private philanthropists while it only facilitates the movement. Minister for Youth and Sports, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah sought to disabuse the minds of Ghanaians of the misleading commentaries by critics of the trip. According to him, government is acting on the sidelines to help the Ministers of God embark on a smooth journey to Israel, disclosing that the funding is in the hands of private entities. He also denied media reports that government is doling out $2m to the Christian community but stated the cost of the trip as $600,000. Following the brouhaha resulting from the Israel trip, President Mahama held a meeting with some religious leaders behind closed doors, intently to explain the details of the trip. Rev. Anyane Boadum who was obviously incensed at the Pastors� unfairness released his fury on his colleagues. According to him, the Ministers should cease from using the country�s economic problems as an excuse for distancing themselves from the trip because �the erratic power or generation of power in this country, the �dum so dum so� thing, has been with us for so many years. The water situation is not new and that the government should not panick.� He disclosed that a number of the Clergy members are �mascotting� for some political heads in the country, and as a result betrayed the President. �Look at how we betrayed him. Yes, we did. He asked the media to stay out of the meeting, out of respect for the Clergy. The things that he shared with us, we came out to tell the media and we put a spin on it. He also identified some flaws in the argument by the religious body asking �where was the Church when Ghana sponsored over thousand people to go to South Africa to watch and support the Black Stars? Were we not having the same problems in this country? Where was the church?� �The Christian Council who are now crying from the roof tops that there are so many problems in this country�Where was the Church when we sponsored people to go to Germany for the World Cup?...We need to be very careful�We should be very, very careful what we do. We will need the ear of the President from time to time.� He advised the Christian body to dissociate itself from �the political media agenda against this government. The church should dissociate itself immediately�, therefore imploring the religious heads to support the President. �We need to encourage him...We should rather seek a leverage with the Presidency,� he said in an interview on Accra-based Radio Gold.