The general overseer and four other key church executives are being sued by six pastors of the Divine Healer's Church for allegedly refusing to resign.
The five are Apostle Isaac Kwabena Adade, General Overseer; Apostle Maxwell Aryeetey Foster, Deputy General Overseer; Apostle Kenneth Ashaley Addo, General Secretary; Apostle Emmanuel Acquaye, Chairman of the National Youth Ministry; and Apostle Dora Edith Osekre, Leader of the National Women's Fellowship.
The five major executives have been charged by the plaintiffs with refusing to retire even though they have reached the church's mandated retirement age of 65.
Moreover, the plaintiffs argue that the church's constitution prohibits the five senior executives from serving more than two consecutive five-year terms.
The general overseer of the church allegedly said that the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he and his team should continue in office, which is why the five major executives refused to resign, according to the plaintiffs.
Apostle Daniel Mensah Attakpah, the head of the church's Tema A2 region and chairman of the pastoral council, is in charge of the six plaintiffs.
Description of a claim
The six pastors argue that the five major church executives' continued service in their positions violates the church's charter and is, therefore, unlawful.
The second defendant continued to hold office illegally and indefinitely despite having crossed the legal retirement age of 65 in 2011 and having served an illegally extended second term as general overseer and member of the National Executive Council that concluded in 2016.
The plaintiffs added in their statement that each of the third, fourth, and sixth defendants "had, much like the second defendant, continued in office unconstitutionally in their respective posts beyond their tenures of office which concluded in 2016."
alleged modification
The plaintiffs claim that without consulting church members, the general overseer and other major executives engaged a lawyer to change the organization's constitution to abolish the age and term limitations.
The statement of claim continued, "The plaintiffs say further that members of the church have been powerless in the circumstances and since the defendants will not end their unconstitutional stay in office and organise elections for the appointment of persons to replace them in their respective positions in the church, some members have left in protestation.
Reliefs
Thus, the plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that the five senior officials' continued tenure in office is illegal.
Also, they are asking for a court order instructing the church to hold new elections to choose eligible church members to take the place of the five defendants.
The plaintiffs want the court, among other things, to require the defendants to give audited accounts to the church and any new executives who would be chosen to take their place.
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