The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is sending over 200 pastors on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Israel, amidst serious protests from the governing bodies of all the major Christian groups selected for the trip.

The move is ostensibly aimed at winning back goodwill from the clergy who have been at the receiving end of caustic verbal assaults from key members of the NDC.

They are also to pray for President John Mahama, especially in view of the prophecy predicting doom for him as well as the court challenging his presidency.

A letter dated February 15, 2013, and signed by the Coordinator of the John Dramani Mahama 2012 campaign, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, written on the letterhead of the State Protocol office (Reference number SPO.C/09), a copy of which is available to Daily Guide spelt out the details.

Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, now Minister of Youth and Sport, wrote: “The Government of the Republic of Ghana has secured sponsorship to take two hundred Ghanaians from the Christian Community on a pilgrimage to Israel. Your Council has been allocated ten slots from the list,” asking them to furnish his office with the names.

There are speculations that while on the holy grounds Jerusalem, the pastors would also be tasked to pray for the presidency of John Mahama whose mandate is being challenged by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in court.

Checks by Daily Guide confirmed that indeed, the key Christian bodies had been officially served with their invitation letters. However, most of them declined, citing wrong timing.

When contacted on Monday, Mr AFriyie-Ankrah confirmed the invitation but declined to give any further details by simply saying, “Discussions are still ongoing”.

However, investigations by Daily Guide indicate that when the letters hit the tables of the various Christian groups, they convened a quick meeting to discuss the mouth-watering proposal.

At the end of the meeting, the pastors collectively agreed to reject the NDC government’s overtures.

The General Secretary of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, Apostle Samuel Yaw Yirenkyi, through the administrator at the office of the Council, Prince Odum, confirmed the rejection to Daily Guide, saying the Christian bodies ‘collectively agreed that the timing was not right.”

Rejection

According to Apostle Yaw Yirenkyi, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, the National Catholic Secretariat, the Christian Council of Ghana, chaired by Rev Professor Emmanuel Asante and the National Association of Charismatic Churches (NACC)-headed by Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams, rejected the proposal from government.

The council’s reasons include the fact that Ghana is currently bedeviled with numerous socio-economic crisis including agitations for pay increases by workers such as doctors, pressures on the country’s finances, erratic supply of utilities, among others.

For these groups of preachers, they would show insensitivity to the needs of Ghanaians if they accepted the NDC’s largesse.

“To me, looking at the economic issues at stake, I don’t think that the timing is right, what is the idea?” Bishop Addai Mensah, the General Overseer of Gospel-Light International Church and a member of NACC, told Daily Guide in a telephone conversation on Monday.