Former President John Dramani Mahama, has promised that he will pardon preachers jailed by President Akufo-Addo over their breach of the Covid-19 protocols if he is elected President in December.
In a meeting with members of the clergy in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital, Mr. Mahama who is also the Flag-bearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) pointed out that the jailing of preachers like Apostle Sampson Agakpe, is selective and draconian.
He pointed out that though flouting the Covid-19 protocols by the preachers was wrong, the fact that some of the President’s appointees, including Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, former Deputy Minister of Trade, flouted the same rules but was not prosecuted, makes the application of the law selective.
“We must all abide by the law, that is true, but we should not engage in selective justice, where you apply the law heavily on church workers who flout the law. Yet, during primaries, people were seen flouting the law with impunity and nothing happened to them”, he said.
“We are all equal before the law. It should not be possible for political parties to flout the law and get away with it, yet when a church flouts the law, the punishment is heavy and draconian. We have our Christian colleagues, a pastor and some church workers languishing in jail. They were sentenced to jail for four years. That is a very draconian punishment”, Mr. Mahama said.
The lament comes in the wake of the Association of Pentecostal and Charismatic Clergy (APCC), calling for the Church to resist what it said is the tyranny of President Akufo-Addo towards the clergy.
According to the APCC, “Never have we seen, in the history of Ghana, a government launch a sustained campaign and attack on the body of Christ.”
Former President Mahama called on President Akufo-Addo to exercise clemency towards all the men of God that he has jailed over Covid-19 breaches, saying their punishment is too draconian.