Presby Elder Yammin Fires Moderator

An elder of the Mount Zion Presbyterian Church in Kumasi, Joseph Yammin, who is also the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has shockingly lambasted the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey.

“Rev. Prof. Martey should quickly go and apologize to Christians and Ghanaians,” he charged the Moderator.

He criticized him for encouraging the church to engage in politics by making statements in favor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Yammin, who is also a Sunday school teacher at the Presbyterian Church, said he decided to descend heavily on Rev. Prof. Martey because he was impugning the integrity of the church.

He observed that the Presbyterian Church Moderator and the church’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) were being hypocritical, insisting that the two should be condemned for stooping so low.

The irate NDC Regional Secretary expressed disappointment at the attitude of the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church and the General Assembly of the church, disclosing that he regretted joining the Presbyterian Church. “I am disappointed in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church as well as the Moderator of the church,” Yammin stated in an interview with Kwadwo Marfo of Kapital radio in Kumasi.

The NDC guru insisted that several NPP members were satisfied with the decision of the Electoral Commission (EC) to create 45 new constituencies, alleging that the NPP had elected its parliamentary candidate for Drobonso Constituency. Yammin, who claimed to have posters of the NPP candidate at Drobonso, said there was infighting in the party due to the newly-created Manhyia Constituency.

According to him, before ex-President Kufuor made pronouncement on the creation of the new constituencies, the NPP had already selected its parliamentary candidates. He stated that Rev. Prof. Martey should have investigated the matter thoroughly before making statements in support of the NPP, indicating that the Presby Moderator’s deep love for the NPP had exposed him.

Yammin disclosed that the actions of the Moderator and the PRO of the church had heightened anxiety among some members of the Presbyterian Church who support the NDC. He said these aggrieved members had vowed to leave the Presbyterian Church because of its stance. Yammin said in 2008 the church prevented him from using its platform to announce his candidature for Kwadaso Constituency during a programme.

He said to his utter surprise, the church allowed Hon. Benito Owusu Bio of the NPP to use the same platform to campaign for the Atwima Nwabiagya Constituency.

Yammin called on the hierarchy of the Presbyterian Church to focus their attention on the large number of church members that were leaving the church for charismatic churches and stop engaging in politics. He reiterated the need for the Presbyterian Church Moderator to publicly apologize for dancing to the tune of the NPP and appealed to other pastors to impress upon him to apologize.