Impunity cause of church corruption - Appiah Ofori

Corruption is gradually creeping into the church because of the existing trend where corrupt officials in Ghana go unpunished, Paul Collins Appiah Ofori, former Member of Parliament for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, has said.

The anti-corruption campaigner made this remark in connection with the financial scandal that has hit the Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

Authorities of the church, according to reporters, are being criticised for allegedly “looting God’s money” and for “abuse of the altar”.

Alfred Apana, Secretary to the Estate and Development Sub-committee of the Parish’s Pastoral Council, said: “They [authorities] have damaged the image of the church by taking over GHS50, 000 to DKM (an illegally operating microfinance institution closed down by the Bank of Ghana earlier in 2016). Is it not embarrassing? … And two individuals did that. Father Ezekiel [Sulley Farouk], the Parish Priest, and Abraham Timbil, a charismatic leader. The church has an account with Gold Coast Security and that was about GHS22, 220. They went and withdrew that money and sent it to DKM.”

But speaking on the matter with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5 FM on Monday August 2016, Mr. Appiah Ofori attributed this attitude in the church to the situation where by corrupt public officials go unpunished.

“The impunity that corrupt officials enjoy may have resulted in this situation in the church. You watch the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament sitting and you see officials unable to account for public monies spent, yet they go free without being punished. That is the cause of the problem,” he said.

He suggested that the officials implicated in the Catholic Church scandal “should be arrested by the police and prosecuted in court.

“We should not just condemn it and leave it like that; action should be taken on it,” the anti-graft campaigner suggested.