According to him, the giving and acceptance of gifts that turn out to be bribes are sometimes recorded, so when the recipient pastor turns around to speak against his benefactor, he would be deemed a traitor.
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Because of bribes, some pastors can’t speak boldly - Rev. Martey
Former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey, has alleged that some men of God take bribes from politicians, so when a wrong is going on, they are unable to speak against it.
Rt. Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey
Rev. Martey revealed this while speaking at a public lecture in Koforidua.
"Some pastors naively and innocently, accept gifts that turn out to be bait and bribes, which subsequently muszzle church leaders from preaching prophetic messages with power. Sometimes such so-called gifts and the accompanying conversations are secretly recorded and that spells doom for the pastor," the man of God said, as quoted by myjoyonline.com.
He went further to state that another reason why many pastors or church leaders have chosen to be quiet over the rise in corruption, economic mismanagement, abuse of power, among others, is that, some of them are of the same ethnicity as the corrupt officials, so they "fear they will be accused of betrayal of ethnic brothers and sisters."
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"They are also afraid that church members belonging to the ethnic group of corrupt people they speak against will leave the church."
Aside from the ethnicity and bribery factors, Rev. Martey also mentioned the fear of insults from Ghanaians as one of the reasons why pastors cannot speak their minds publicly on issues of national concern.
"Ghanaians can insult … Many pastors cannot withstand such insults and, therefore, keep quiet amidst corruption. But they forget that that was the way the master went."
As to why he personally has not been heard speaking publicly against corruption, economic mismanagement and abuse of power in the current administration as he did in the Mahama-led regime, the reverend minister said he has lost the power to speak on behalf of the Presbyterian church after handing over to his successor.
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"The revelation, practice and procedure of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, the spirit of our constitution is that the Presbyterian Church has only one representative to speak on behalf of the Church and that person is the serving Moderator," Rev. Martey explained.
He was reacting to accusations of hypocrisy by a section of Ghanaians who said he and other notable Ghanaians have become quiet as the very things they were very vocal in condemning in the past have worsened.
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