Pastors begin agitation after NPP primaries ‘ignored’ coronavirus protocols

Some members of the clergy have expressed worry at the wanton abandonment of the health protocols in preventing the spread of COVID-19 during the weekend’s parliamentary primaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The pastors claim members of the party were allowed to be together several hours, in most cases, to vote while churches have been restricted to an hour of service.

The founder and General Overseer of Perez Chapel, Bishop Charles Agyinasare, expressed wonder how Ghanaians can go and vote in the primaries but “when it comes to church it is like at the gate of the church we are distributing coronavirus”.

“That is what the devil has made people to think,” he stressed.

In a post on his Instagram page, Bishop Agyinasare said Satan could be behind the deadly coronavirus.

“Is it not amazing to you that our president, our Minister of Health who are all Christians, when it comes to taking a decision on church activities during this pandemic are afraid?” he quizzed.

“Everybody believes that people can go and vote and the coronavirus will not get them. We can go and register and the virus will not get them and even distribute NIA cards. Have multitude gather on a park and still not get the virus. But if they come to church the coronavirus will get them. It is a demon.”

The President of Full Gospel Church International, Bishop Samuel N. Mensah, condemned politicians and predicted that there will be more cases of the virus in the next few weeks as a result of the way the primaries were conducted.

“[There] was no social distancing, no face masks. All those things is going to increase the rise of the COVID and it will multiply,” he told his congregation, “and in the next two weeks we may probably have another 5,000 rise-up.”

He said, unfortunately, the church will be blamed for the surge he has predicted.

“And they stayed there for more than 2, 3 hours and yet they said for church, we must only meet for one hour and some churches when they met during the lockdown, they have been jailed and et these people are doing what they don’t need to do.

“It is like four legs bad, two legs good. If the law is the law everybody must obey the law.”

He admonished all not to follow politicians since they don’t consider the well-being of the populace.

Ghana’s total confirmed cases is at 14,568.