I'm not in bed with any political party – Duncan Williams

Founder and general overseer of the Action Chapel International Ministries Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams has said he is “not in bed with any politician or political party” in the country.

Duncan-Williams who also said the pulpit should not be used to insult or attack political leaders, however, urged Ghanaians not to shy away from speaking truth to their leaders.

“I can speak for myself; I can’t speak for others. I’m not in bed with any politician or political leaders or political party but I don’t believe that the pulpit should be used to attack political leaders or to insult leaders,” he said in an interview with Accra-based Joy FM on Friday, 4 October 2019.

“It is not right to insult politicians or leaders; you don’t speak evil of them. The Bible categorically states that 'thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of my people.'

"We must have a culture of honour in this country. It looks like for whatever reason in the name of democracy we're losing honour and respect for the elderly and for dignitaries and no matter what leaders or a father or a mother does wrong we must speak truth to them but we must always keep honour and respect in mind, we must never cross that line of disrespecting and dishonouring them even when they err,” he added.

On the issue of church leaders being criticised for not speaking to some of the actions of governments due to their perceived affiliation with some political parties, Duncan-Williams explained that: “I’ve spoken about a lot to leaders over the decades. I think sometimes people think to be bold which is a Ghanaian thing, you must insult the leaders, you must call them out, criticise them, insult them, but the pulpit is not for insults and the pulpit is not to speak to political leaders in the sense of criticising them or calling them to order, the pulpit is for the preaching of God’s word.

“There are so many things I've told past and present leaders. Now, our job is to tell them the truth what they do with that is their business. You cannot compel them to go a particular path but yours is to speak the truth to them and they become responsible to whatever you say to them and God will judge them based on the fact that you told them the truth and what they do with it will judge them or exempt them from judgement."

Duncan-Williams further urged charismatic churches in the country to be wise in the way they relate to governments to avoid being tagged with a particular political party.

The Archbishop stated that: “The charismatic church is young in this country and we must all be very wise in the way we relate to governments because if you’re not careful you can easily be tagged especially if a particular government or party or president or leader visits your church, they can easily tag you as a church of a particular party and because this is new to our society also. It is not new to other countries like America and Canada or places in Europe, it’s new to Ghana."