General News of Wednesday, 25 June 2003

Source: chronicle

Annor Yeboah Booted Out Of Office

Rev Michael Nimo has been elected as the new General Secretary of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) International. He polled 233 votes to beat Rev. Annor Yeboah who had 23 votes. Rev. Nimo, before his new position, was acting deputy chairman of the church.

Rev. Percy Konortey who polled 238 votes as against seven, also floored Rev. Annor Yeboah who contested for the chairmanship as well. Previously, the CAC witnessed internal wrangles with the Revs. Nimo and Annor Yeboah being at the centre of all the problems.

For the position of field supervisor, Rev. Larbi was elected unopposed. The constitution of the church says any nominee for any national leadership position should have two-thirds of votes cast to qualify him or her for the post they are after, the ''Chronicle'' gathered.

The election was held behind closed doors at the headquarters of the church after which nobody was willing to give out information. In fact, some elders the paper approached claimed that the election had not been held but rather postponed to Friday, that is, tomorrow.

But Chronicle managed to speak to some members of the church who confirmed that the election had duly been held in the church which is situated at the Osu suburb of Accra.

It was reckoned that Rev. Annor Yeboah held the position for over a decade and a half as the general secretary and two years as acting chairman. According to some members of the church, Rev. Annor Yeboah took controversial decisions and ran the church single-handedly, virtually. Others described him outright as a dictator, who, during the previous election, asked voting pastors to declare the candidate they intended voting for, instead of allowing them to go through the normal secret voting processes.

Others cited a barrage of problems, which they blamed invariably on the deposed general secretary, as difficulties that had bedeviled the church during his term of office.

Readers will recall that early this year, some executives of the church held a press conference in Accra, announcing the interdiction of Rev. Annor Yeboah. But the strong man shrugged off the ‘insurrection’, an issue that resulted in chaos as some youths of the church went on a rampage to demonstrate against the executives.

But Wednesday’s elections clearly shows that Annor Yeboah did not get even one percent of the votes cast during the election conducted freely and fairly by his church. The overwhelming defeat clearly vindicates this paper’s exposes that the former church leader was an unpopular leader who used unorthodox methods to entrench himself in power.

Some were, however, of the view that the minister had done a lot for the church in terms of financial management and some other issues. The new overseer will be in office for four years.