Its Moderator And His Flock Are All Ewes!

The ethnic face of the disputed anti-Rawlings pastoral letter was shown last Thursday when the octogenarian National Chairman of the NPP, Haruna Esseku, bluntly stated that he was not surprised at the dissociation of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EP Church) Ghana from the joint pastoral letter calling on former President Rawlings to apologise to President Kufuor over the saga of the current hit song, ?Ataa Ayi nie, Kufuor nie; Awi nie, Kufuor nie; Koromfoo nie, Kufuor nie; Ya Na Ti nie, Kufuor nie?.

According to the ?Daily Guide? of Friday, April 15, 2005, which broke the story, ?Mr. Haruna Esseku said EP Church is predominantly made up of Ewe, and Rev. Dr. Boama, being head of that church, has dissociated himself from the joint statement, because he feared he might lose his flock, and receive condemnation from the Ewe community of the church?.

The ?Daily Guide? story said Haruna Esseku noted that even though Rev. Dr. Boama might have been informed about the decision of his colleague clergymen, he had gone ahead to dissociate himself from it, adding that his conscience should definitely tell him that the other churches did the right thing.

Haruna Esseku who, from the ?Daily Guide? story appeared to be speaking for the embattled ?Gang of Four? who signed the pastoral letter and tried to have it passed off as a joint pastoral letter of the National Catholic Secretariat, the Christian Council of Ghana and the Ghana Pentecostal Church, the churches? decision to demand apology from the former President was arrived at after a long watch of the situation in the country.

The four signatories to the pastoral letter were Most Rev?d Dr. Justice O. Akrofi, Anglican Bishop of Accra & Archbishop of the Province of West Africa, Most Rev?d Dr. Robert Aboagye-Mensah, Presiding Bishop, The Methodist Church Ghana, Rt. Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong-Manso, Moderator of General Assembly, Presbyterian Church of Ghana, and Apostle Dr. Michael Ntumy, Chairman, Church of Pentecost.

The ?Daily Guide? story stated that according to Haruna Esseku, any fair-minded Ghanaian would conclude that it is Rawlings and not Kufuor who is the problem, and so the former should apologise to the latter.

According to the story, Haruna Esseku said the men of God acted conscientiously, and so for people like Tony Aidoo to make non-complimentary remarks about them, and, even, call them hypocrites make one wonder what Rawlings? reactions would be, if his apologists are talking this way.

Esseku is also reported to have said he would have expected Rawlings to do the right thing by calling Tony Aidoo to order, but because both of them think alike, he will not do it, and no one else would.

The ?Daily Guide? reported that Esseku re-stated the fact that Rawlings is up to something sinister, adding that, he would very much want a re-enactment of the 1981 episode which saw him making another come-back on the political scene of the country.

According to the ?Daily Guide?, ?Mr. Haruna Esseku challenged those who say that Rawlings too was insulted by Kufuor, to come out with proof of that.