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Savannahnews has gathered that, the acting Northern Regional Director of the National Sports Authority, Salamatu Alhassan, has given a 10 day ultimatum to four churches to vacate the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium as their base.
The affected churches are Grace Gospel Church, Holy Hill Worldwide, Converted Christian Ministry and Prophetic Fire Ministry. The directive reportedly also affects other churches that may need the stadium as venue for their religious activities from now onwards.
Institutions such as the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Savannah Accelerated Development Authority, Hajj Board and the University of Cape Coast are the only ones reportedly allowed to remain as tenants.
Before these churches were served with their eviction notice, Savannahnews also gathered that, their lights were first disconnected on the orders of Madam Salamatu without any prior notice.
The situation forced some of them to resort to the use of generators to power their sound systems and lights whenever they hold a service.
Madam Salamatu took over from her predecessor less than 3 months ago as the acting Regional Director of the NSA. But rumour has it that, since her assumption of office, she has been a torn in the flesh of churches operating in the stadium as well as some staff of the NSA in the region.
She is reported to have on a few occasions barged into the church auditorium of Holy Hill Worldwide while church service was ongoing, claiming she was conducting an inspection.
Madam Salamatu is also reported to have said that she was the “darling girl” of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, and that anyone who would disobey her orders would know how politically connected she was.
When contacted, Founder and Senior Pastor of Holy Hill Worldwide, Prophet Godwin Sarfo Annan confirmed that it was true he had been asked to move his church out of the stadium.
The renowned charismatic preacher and his colleagues are currently under pressure to find new places and relocate their churches before they are forcibly ejected anytime soon.
A member of one of the churches, who spoke to Savannahnews on condition of anonymity, said “these four churches are open to everybody including Muslims and other believers. I am a member of one of just one of the churches which I don’t want to mention the name but I have observed that non-christians attend the other churches just like they attend my church” she noted.
All four churches have huge following, and their ability to openly accept everybody without discrimination, is a true symbolism of the popular Ghanaian cliché that Christians, Muslims and other religious denominations have coexisted for years without any trouble.
But with this development, leadership of some of the churches in the stadium suspect that they may just be victims or targets of religious differences between them and Madam Salamatu, a Muslim.
The situation, according to Savannahnews, has also ruffled feathers in the Christian community particularly in the Ghana Pentecostal Council and the Local Council of Churches in the Northern Region.
Prophet Godwin, said ever since he became a tenant of the NSA, he has never had any misunderstanding with or maltreatment whatsoever from anyone including the immediate past Director.
“I have been here for about 4 years now and I pay my rent in full every year. I also pay my light bill. I don’t owe the managers anything for occupying this hall. I am telling you all this because I have been told by close sources that the Director says I owe and that I even did illegal power connection, which is not true.
“We came to church service one Sunday in January this year and discovered that our light had been disconnected. We had no option than to use generator to power our gadgets. Recently I was on a journey and I got a call from one of the stadium staff telling me our power had been restored, I said hallelujah. But When I returned from the journey I got sad news that the Director of the Stadium said she disconnected our light and we decided to reconnect it. I was shocked to hear this”, he narrated.
Prophet Godwin said he had no problem being asked to vacate the stadium but the way and manner he was being pushed out was what he did not like.
“I have a huge membership of over 500 people who come to church every Sunday. If you ask me to vacate your facility as a tenant at such a short notice I think that is not fair. Where am I going to take them to for us to hold our services?, he asked.
When Savannahnews contacted Madam Salamatu for her response, she plainly turned down the opportunity to comment despite several attempts to get her to clear the allegations levelled against her.
At the time of filing this report, Holy Hill Worldwide was on its way to court to demand full access to the stadium, pending when they will get a suitable venue to relocate.
By Savannahnews
