The Presbyterian Church of Ghana has denied that the outgoing Moderator of the church, Rt Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, has described the Vice-President, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, as a “religious unifier”.
It said while Rt. Tev. Prof. Mante would have no problems describing anyone in the terms he deemed appropriate, “the records must be set straight that on Sunday he did not make that statement”.
A statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the church, Rev George E. Larbi, and issued in Accra on Tuesday [August 22, 2023] said “the attention of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) has been drawn to an article going viral on social media and some news portals”.
The story, the statement said, had claimed that the outgoing Moderator of the church had extolled Dr Bawumia’s religious tolerance attitude, and described him as a unifying character of Islam and Christianity.
“According to the articles, the Moderator made the said statement during the closing session of the 23rd General Assembly of the church at the Ramseyer Congregation at Abetifi Kwahu in the Eastern Region,” the statement said.
“The PCG, by this statement, is making it clear that the Moderator did not make such a statement and has not made any statement of that nature anywhere as the article on social media and other newspapers and portals is seeking to portray.
“The Moderator, in his five minutes and fifty-eight seconds speech, thanked the Vice-President for his support to the church, and also stated that the government had made pledges to donate buses to some institutions of the church. He, therefore, appealed to the Vice-President to ensure that government redeems those pledges.
“Earlier, the Moderator, through a communique, had told the government that although they are working very hard, Ghanaians are still suffering, and so they ought to do something about it.
“These are the things that the Moderator said. Please, kindly take the Moderator out of this unfruitful partisan politics,” the statement added.