Members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral in the Upper East region have come out bitterly to complain against the leaders of the church for allegedly misappropriating church funds.
The members claim the church’s leaders have been looting funds for years, and besides have also made some questionable decisions – all of which have amounted to the church losing large sums of money taken from them, the parishioners.
Several of them spoke to Starr News, detailing several levels of accusations of financial rot that has occurred over the years. Some include depositing money into DKM, the micro finance company that has gone bankrupt, overestimating the costs of church projects, and misplacing or misappropriating harvest cash to the tune of Ghc 200,000.
“They have damaged the image of the church by taking over Gh¢50,000 to DKM. Is it not embarrassing?” Fred Apana Secretary to the Atulbabiisi Christian Community, told Starr.
“The church’s money. And two individuals did that. Father Ezekiel, the parish priest, and Abraham Timbil, a charismatic leader. The church has an account with Gold Coast Security and that was about Gh¢22, 220. They went and withdrew that money and sent it to DKM.
“That was the first chunk of money they took to DKM. Then, later on, they picked additional Gh¢40,000 from a different account belonging to the church to DKM. They have wasted the money! It’s locked up with DKM as you are aware. DKM is now bankrupt when we need money, serious money, to complete the new church! If it were a private company, those two people would have been arrested!” he added.
Apana also spoke on a project to renovate a water closet, which they claim was also another avenue to loot.
“You can’t just spread money anyhow. Can you imagine, renovating a toilet, a four-seater WC toilet, costing Gh¢9,000? It is uncalled for. The most expensive water closet at the market will not cost up to Gh¢500. Even if it’s up to Gh¢500, four will be Gh¢2,000. A small structure with four WCs with painting, costing Gh¢9,000? We are only talking about accountability here!” Apana continued.
The accusations continued to flow, including one in which harvest money meant to build a new mega auditorium mysteriously went missing, and despite proceeds from the church’s annual harvest since 2010 being earmarked for the project, nothing has been done to move the project along – with over Ghc 200,000 unaccounted for.
The church elders at the centre of the scandal have declined to comment, despite being contacted by the Starr. Church members are demanding accountability, especially as most of the money being misappropriated is their money – money taken from old men and women and children.
Read the full report here..