The Presiding Bishop of Perez Chapel International, Bishop Charles Agyinasare, has said he “unequivocally condemns the insults” hurled at President Nana Akufo-Addo by some final-year senior high school students sitting the 2020 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and called for the “necessary sanctions be applied to deter others from doing the same”.

Students of Tweneboa Kodua SHS, Juaben SHS, Ndewura Jakpa SHTS and Bright SHS went on the rampage, in turns, after sitting their first few papers.

They accused the President of feeding them past questions which did not feature in the exam.

They also accused officials of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and their respective school authorities, of instituting strict invigilation protocols that prevented them from cheating in the exam halls.

The marauding students, thus, went on the rampage and vandalised school property with some of them raining insults on President Akufo-Addo while they videoed themselves with their mobile phones.

Social media has been awash with the vandalism this week.

So far, the Ghana Education Service has dismissed 14 of the students and interdicted four teachers in connection with the various incidents.

Teaching his congregation about family values and the need for strong families as the basis for national transformation on Sunday, 9 August 2020, the founder of Perez Chapel International, who is popularly known as the Nation’s Pastor and Prophet, said: “It is in the family that our young people first learn moral and spiritual values which give meaning to their lives”.

“We cannot have national transformation if we don’t have strong families. The wellbeing of the family would make the country strong. The family needs to be treated right for the country to progress. We need to see the importance of the family unit as the core of the society, because any country that would be strong must have strong family units”, he taught.

He said: “When we have a strong family, we build strong communities then we can have a strong nation. It is in the family that our young people first learn moral and spiritual values which give meaning to their lives. There must be the acknowledgement of the proper identity of the family, founded on marriage between one man and one woman.

“Sustainable development must be people-centred. Today, many young people are growing up without any guidance, mentors or role models; without knowing a stable, loving, secure family life. Family life is under constant attack today from various social ills. There are many families in this country that are hurting and need healing”.

“See how unruly some of our young people have become. This past week, SHS students going to [sit] an exam insulted the first gentleman of the land, the President, and worse of all, by name”, he deplored.

“We cannot allow this to go on like that”, Bishop Agyinasare condemned, observing that the unruliness of the schoolchildren, mirrors what some adults do at the national level where “everything has been politicised”.

“Unfortunately, some politicians sit on air and make false accusations and insult those they disagree with and their opponents”.

“Remember, last week on 2 August 2020, in my 10-point commitments we needed from the politicians, in no. 8, I talked about our politicisation of everything in this country”, he noted, recalling thus: ‘That the political class would not sideline the other pillars of society (that everything in this nation can’t be about politics. If we sideline the other pillars of society, and make everything political, then when even our football team plays, politicians will take the glory and also of the fall for their performance. When court cases are won or lost, politicians will be held accountable for it. When people commit crime, it will become political. Eventually, ordinary citizens like you and me will be the victims.)’

“Now, if students have not studied for their exam, what has it got to do with the President?” Bishop Agyinasare wondered.

“But they are insulting the President because in this country, everything is about politics”, he noted.

“As a parent, how would you have felt to see your child do what the children did?” he asked.

He said just like the President is being insulted because of the politicisation of everything in the country, so has he also been verbally abused in the media by people who disagree with some of his teachings about national transformation in the past few weeks.

“The unmentionable things people have said about me these past few weeks are unbelievable”, he said.

“My loved ones and concerned people have called me and keep calling to say: ‘Bishop, stop talking about national transformation because we cannot stand the insults and smear against you’. Some wonder whether I am able to sleep soundly at night in the midst of the insults, even to threats of some demanding that charismatic churches be closed, including this. Others wonder why I am so cool when they see me or call as if nothing is going on”, he said.

“Why I am so peaceful it is because what I am saying is the truth and Paul said in 2 Cor. 13:8 that: ‘For we can do nothing against the truth [not serve any party or personal interest], but only for the truth [which is the gospel]’”.

Bishop Agyinasare said: “If this is the price I have to pay for transformation, it is worth it all”.

“On 26th July 2020 (two Sundays ago) when I preached on: ‘Is there not a cause?’, I said, among other things that we must honour our leaders. Is there not a cause to tell our populace to intercede for our rulers instead of insulting them?”

To demonstrate his point with the Scriptures, Bishop Agyinasare quoted 1 Timothy 2:1 and 2 as well as Acts 23:5, which say, respectively: ‘Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men’; 1 Tim. 2:2: ‘For kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence’; and Acts 23:5: ‘¶ Then Paul said: ‘…You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people’”.

He, thus, asked: “Is there not a cause to tell our politicians to stop teaching our populace that it is OK to insult our opponents including elders instead of addressing issues?”

“We are supposed to honour those in leadership”, he said, noting that 1 Peter 2:17 says: ‘Honour all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear god. Honour the king’”.

Bishop Agyinasare urged the Christian community to continue praying for him, since he an “intercessor who prays for this nation” and has been given an assignment to preach national transformation.

“I ask that you pray for me and pray for this nation that something must break over this nation”, he appealed.