President Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the seemingly lavish life style of some Men of God
in the country has generated a rather controversial public discourse on the
need to impose tax on Church income.
In the country's
quest to build a modern and prosperous nation, President Akufo-Addo said, it
can not be lost on any one that there are increasing calls for Churches to be
taxed, as it was not difficult to see what was driving these calls.
Speaking at
President Akufo-Addo at the 2018 Synod of the Global Evangelical Church on
Thursday at the University of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo said the church is an
integral part of the wider society.
For years the Church
had been seen to lead the drive for development — they build and run schools
and hospitals, led the campaign for good sanitation, cleanliness was next to
Godliness, they preached and practice — the Priest led his live as the average
Ghanaian could identify with.
Unfortunately, the
public had looked on as the Priest displayed opulence — compete to show
who was most powerful and richer, while some members of the Church wallow in
abject poverty.
It is not
surprising, the President said, that there had been calls for taxes to
impose on Church income.
"I am not
getting into the merits and demerits of the prosperity gospel that appears to
be the main theme for many of our present day preachers. The God Lard knows I
preach prosperity myself and do not want people of this Country to be poor and
I am very much for wealth creation", the President stated.
But the difficult
truth, he noted, was that once a person entered into the wealthy and prosperity
sphere, he or she necessarily slipped into the tax category.
He said even though
he believed in putting up dignified Church edifice — such as the National
Cathedral built by Government — it was imperative that the public,
including the Church, engaged in intellectual and healthy discourse on whether
the Church should pay tax or not.
President Akufo-Addo
told the congregation that from the practical to the spiritual, the Church
could not operate on a different play field of the society, saying "many
of the people who today strive to build beautiful and magnificent
Churches", came to church from homes that were, unfortunately, very much
impoverished.
He said he was not
against the building of magnificent Churches and Mosques, after all, he
was committed to building a national Cathedral — as he believed the towns and
cities should have paved roads, good sanitation and beautiful houses for the people
to live in when they go to worship.
He said the Bible
had provided a moral anchor that has help Christians face trails and
tribulations of life, saying, he believed it was equally important that, the
Church promotes the study of subjects that would equipped the members,
especially the youth to acquire jobs to develop their capacity to compete
in the modern world.
It was expedient,
President Akufo-Addo noted, to train the youth in pastoral work, but it
was, also equally important that they were trained to become Scientists,
Carpenters, Engineers, Mathematics teachers, dress makers and many more of the
professions.
The President said,
though he believed in miracles, the over concentration of it by some Pastors
had made it difficult for government to convince the public, especially the
youth to acquire skills and work hard to build up global businesses for the
betterment of the nation.
According to
President Akufo-Addo, the Country's younger generation were no longer willing
to wait for the long-promised improvements in their lives as they believed
Government and the Church could work to raise the pace of development to meet
their needs.
The Moderator of
Global Evangelical Church, Rt. Rev. Dr. S.K Ofori commended Government for the
introduction of educational reforms — the Free SHS and the Double Track System
— but was quick to add that Government engaged fully all stakeholders in the introduction
of the double track system.
