Apostle Isaac Kwabena Adade – General Overseer
The Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), has stepped in to secure an out-of-court settlement in a suit filed against the General Overseer and some other executives of Divine Healer’s Church.
Chairman of the Pastoral Council of the Church, Daniel Attakpah as well as five Pastors of the Church dragged the General Overseer, Isaac Kwabena Adade and four other executives to court over their continuous stay in office despite the expiration of their terms.
The suit avers that the General Overseer and the other defendants have failed to vacate their positions for fresh elections to be held in blatant disregard for the constitution of the Church.
The plaintiffs argue that the General Overseer and his cohorts have exhausted their two-term tenures and he is above the 65 years age limit set by the Church’s constitution but have remained in same positions since 2016 based solely on what they describe as a prophecy by the General Overseer.
The case is yet to go to trial but GPCC has stepped in hoping the matter would be resolved amicably between the parties out of court.
Bob Senyalah, counsel for plaintiffs and Faustell Cofie, counsel for defendants told an Accra High Court that a member of the National Executive Council of GPCC, Rt. Rev. Dr. Nana Anyani-Boadum, had personally reached out to them to seek an adjournment of the case for the Council to take steps to resolve the impasse between the parties.
Justice Charles Gyamfi Danquah, granted the request and adjourned the case to April 25, 2023 to hear the outcome of the meeting with the Council.
The plaintiffs also allege that the defendants have also hired an Accra-based lawyer to amend the Church’s constitution to enable them stay in their positions beyond the year and terms prescribed be the constitution.
The plaintiffs are Apostle Attakpah, Rev. Philip Attakpah, Johannies Ollennu, Rev. Jonathan Nyabu, Solomon Amenyo and Ebenezer Nartey while the defendants are the Registered Trustees of the Church, Apostle Adade, Maxwell Aryeetey Foster, Kenneth Ashaley Addo, Emmanuel Acquaye and Dora Edith Osekre.
The plaintiffs argue that the continuous stay in office by Apostle Adade is unconstitutional, arbitrary and amounts to an attempt by him to remain in office as a life General Overseer and member of the National Executive Board.
They aver that Apostle Adade claims the Holy Spirit has revealed through prophecies that he and his team should remain in office and the defendants have “succeeded in remaining in their positions indefinitely by spiritual subterfuge in the name of purported prophecies.”
They are asking the court to stop the second to fifth defendants from amending the Church’s constitution to abolish the term and age limits in order to remain in office indefinitely.
They are therefore, asking for an order to declare their continuous stay in office as unconstitutional, order the Registered Trustees to organise elections for the appointment of qualified members.
They are also asking for an order directing the old executives to render audited accounts to the new executives. They are also asking for general damages and costs.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak