DEPUTY CLERK OF PARLIAMENT GOES HOME 1ST MAY, 2021

Reverend Father Emmanuel Acheampong of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese of the Catholic Church, has made an urgent appeal to the Parliament of Ghana to enact a law that will set strict standards and guidelines for the broadcast of religious content on the country’s television and radio networks to stem what he termed “the misleading of God’s people and the perpetual presentation of shortcuts to wealth making through ritual undertakings”.

Rev. Fr. Acheampong

Father Acheampong who was preaching the sermon at the burial service for the late Deputy Clerk of Parliament, Mr. Robert Ageya Apodolla at the Basilica in Navrongo this Saturday, delivered his appeal directly through the Honourable Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin who was personally seated at the service. The top brass of Parliament including the Minority Leader, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, a good delegation of Members of Parliament and the staff of the Parliamentary Service were all in attendance. Past ministers of state including Hon. Tangoba Abayage also graced the service.

According to the Catholic Priest, Ghana had reached that point where, sanity had to be brought into the ministration of God’s word in the public space and that, clear lines by way of a law, ought to be drawn indicating the threshold pastors or persons who present themselves as ministers of God, cannot be permitted to cross. He noted that current happenings mostly on national television, only show the blatant falsification and twisting of the Gospel by charlatans using the pulpit as a conduit to swindle and mislead unsuspecting citizens.

Father Acheampong observed that these false teachings coupled with the proliferation of open advertisements of spiritualists on television and their so-called prowess in conjuring money charms or money-doubling tactics, have led many Ghanaians to stray from the tenets of Christianity and even causing many to do evil things such as ritual murders to make wealth. He hoped Ghana’s Parliament will do something really drastic and immediate about the canker so that it does not hit the point of no return.

Meanwhile, he hailed the kind life led by the late Apodolla as he described him as one who rose to his peak from the poor community of Gongnia in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of Upper East Region and a humble family background, to become a national asset not only in the development of parliament business, but in the governance of Ghana. He said the late Mr. Robert A. Apodolla was an inspiration to many of his compatriots and always extended a helping hand to all, regardless of tribe and other considerations – in as far as he could, he always did.

The Late Deputy Clerk

 

Father Acheampong also used the late Deputy Clerk’s passing to task Christians to lead the kind of lives that are worthy in the sight of God and in the benefit of mankind stressing that, the late Apodolla’s death though painful to his wife and children and the larger Apodolla family, was still a worthy one because he had made tremendous contributions to his family, community and national development. He urged the bereaved family and close associates of the late Apodolla to be comforted in the fact that, his life had been a very meaningful one and many good things stood in his name.

The late Mr. Robert Ageya Apodolla was born on December 11, 1962 at Gongnia, a suburb of Navrongo – Upper East Region and had his elementary education at the then Dokomolo Practice Primary School. He proceeded to school at the Bolgatanga and Navrongo Secondary schools between 1975 and 1981. He was a 1989 graduate from the prestigious University of Ghana, Legon. Until his passing on 19^th February, 2021, he was the 1^st Deputy Clerk of Parliament in charge of Legislative Management Division – a position he held diligently since 2006.

The late Mr. Robert Ageya Apodolla left behind a widow, Mrs. Georgina Apodolla and five children.