Because of safety concerns, the Atiwa East District Security Council (DISEC) has shut down the head office of the African Faith Tabernacle church in Akyem Anyinam.
A year after Leader Superior Prophet David Nkansah's death, the National trustees and his family are fighting over who will be the next leader of the church.
Both groups had planned to hold their annual delegates conferences at the Church Headquarters from January 13th to 15th, 2023.
DISEC canceled the conference and locked the temple and mission house at headquarters because they thought there could be bloody fights.
National trustees and other church leaders from all over the country who came to the conference but were unable to get into the headquarters.
So, they went to the house of Chief Pastor Stephen Frimpong Nkansah, who was the late Prophet David Nkansah's linguist and was chosen as the next leader by the national trustees and a large majority of church members, to hold the conference and annual first quarter meeting.
On Saturday, the National Public Relations Officer of the African Faith Tabernacle Church, Chief Pastor Joseph Kwasi Rockson, spoke to the media outside of the meeting. He accused the police and the district Chief Executive for Atewa East, Kwabena Panin Nkansah, of being biased in the case because the DCE is a member of the family in dispute.
"We want the IGP and the Minister of the Interior to know what's going on in the church so they can do something about it, because we can't keep putting up with what's happening.
When you say "for the sake of peace," both sides have to agree. So why are family members of the late leader still at the headquarters?
"The church does not belong to the family," Chief Pastor Joseph Kwasi Rockson said next. It is a religious group that works on its own. Then why should the family run the church? Why shouldn't the Temple and mission house be open to us as national trustees and elders? The DCE, who is also the chairman of DISEC, is from the family that is suing, so they have decided to take over the church and bring it down. We don't break into the headquarters because we follow the law, not because we're scared. Just one year after our leader died, these family members took over and shut down the headquarters and temple, making it impossible for church activities to happen there, he said.
Chief Pastor Ebenezer Nkansah Twum Barimah, the National Youth President of the Church, said that Chief Pastor Stephen Frimpong should be respected as the leader chosen by the church's leaders. He also said that the family has no right to choose a leader for the church.
But the Anyinam District Police Commander, DSP Raymond Mahama Iddrisu, denied that the police and DISEC were biased. He said that the decision was made to keep the peace in the area because they still had court cases to deal with.
"Every time they meet, they fight, so we decided that to keep the peace and keep security from being broken, they should settle their differences before we let them go. As a district commander, I tried to stop them. I sent them to the Regional commander because they weren't listening. It was still not clear what was going on."
DSP Raymond Mahama went on to say, "So we activated DISEC on Friday. Both parties and DISEC came out with a decision that for security reasons, looking at the fact that the peace will be broken, they should all stop what they want to do and figure out their problems before they can be allowed." So we said, "No party will be able to hold a meeting.
On Wednesday, February 16, 2022, the leader of the African Faith Tabernacle Church, Superior Prophet David Kwaku Nkansah, died at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
The Prophet David Nkansah II's family says that before he died, he chose his 17-year-old cousin to be the next leader of the Church when he died.
But the Elders, Trustees, and Executives say it's not true. They say the boy is too young to lead the Church, which has branches all over the country, and that they have chosen Chief Pastor Stephen Frimpong Nkansah, who was the late Prophet David Nkansah's linguist, to be the next leader.
Elders, Trustees, and Executives then released a statement on April 13, 2022, saying, "In the wake of the death of the late Superior Prophet David Nkansah II, the National Trustees, National Officers, and the Regional Representatives of the African Faith Tabernacle Church are pleased to announce the appointment of Chief Pastor Stephen Frimpong Nkansah as the acting leader of the Church, effective April 7, 2022."
The statement said that Chief Pastor Stephen Frimpong Nkansah is a good leader with a lot of different and unique experience in both church leadership and church doctrines.
The late prophet Kwame Nkansah started the African Faith Tabernacle Church in 1919. It is a well-known spiritual church with roots in Ghana.
The Church's main office is in Anyinam, which is in the Eastern Region. The church has more than a thousand branches in Ghana, other countries in West Africa, and Europe.