High Court Jails Three Pastors for Contempt of Court

The Accra High Court has sentenced three pastors to five days in prison for contempt of court. The pastors, Apostle Samuel Anang Sowah, Bishop Abraham Adjetey Adjei, and Bishop Daniel Buernor Tokoli, all formerly of the Holy Apostolic Reformed Church (HARC), were found guilty of defying court orders prohibiting them from interfering with the church’s activities.

The court, presided over by Justice William Boampong, not only handed down the prison sentences but also imposed a fine of GH¢1,000 on each pastor, payable to the church, which had filed the contempt case.

This ruling follows an earlier contempt conviction on October 27, 2023, when the pastors were found guilty of conducting services at the Tema, Teshie, and Nungua branches of the church despite a pending application for an interlocutory injunction. At that time, the court had cautioned and discharged the pastors, who had been dismissed by the church’s leadership.

However, in a blatant disregard for the court’s warnings, the pastors resumed conducting services at the same branches just two days after their conviction, on October 29, 2023. This defiance led the court to conclude that the pastors had brought the administration of justice into disrepute by breaching the court’s orders.

Justice Boampong, delivering the sentence, emphasized that the pastors must be made to respect the law, noting that their repeated disobedience warranted the prison terms.

The case stems from a lawsuit filed by the Trustees of HARC against the three pastors, accusing them of illegally breaching the church’s constitution by acting independently and refusing to recognize the church’s leadership. The plaintiffs sought a court order declaring that the branches under the pastors’ control were subject to the authority of the church’s headquarters and requested that the pastors be restrained from further involvement with the church as long as they continued to defy the leadership.