Former National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential aspirant, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, may just have put his political career and other lucrative professional jobs on hold in order to devote more time to the service of God as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Action Chapel International.
At the end of his sermon last Sunday, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, General Overseer of Action Chapel, announced to the congregation at the Prayer Cathedral - the church’s newest appointment and then formally introduced the former Minister of Education and onetime Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, as the chief executive of the church.
The position of chief executive is an unusual one in a church organization, but Archbishop Duncan-Williams explained that Dr. Spio-Garbrah would assume administrative responsibility of the entire global network of Action Chapel International. The church has over 100 affiliate and branch churches spread across Africa, Australia, Asia, North America and Europe.
Archbishop Duncan-Williams noted that he appointed his onetime Chief of Staff and a long time associate to take up the esteem role because of the need to develop and strengthen time-tested structures, particularly as the church’s scope of activities have expanded across the globe. The church has been granted the approval by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport for the commencement of two university projects in Accra and Kumasi.
Archbishop Duncan-Williams, credited to have engineered the Christian charismatic movement in the country, noted that Dr. Spio-Garbrah had demonstrated his dedication to the church by placing his wealth of experience at the service of God while politics takes a backseat.
“He is a brother and part of the church and not a politician,” said Duncan-Williams, who traced his long association with his new CEO during his time as Minster of Communications around 1998 when he [Duncan-Williams] met with President Jerry Rawlings and Dr. Spio-Garbrah and implored them to lift a ban placed by the government on preaching of the gospel on state-run Ghana Television (GTV).
“I spoke passionately to them for about four hours after which President Rawlings asked Dr. Spio-Garbrah to lift the ban and, of course, Action Chapel was the first church to start preaching the gospel on TV.”
The introduction of the new CEO was greeted with loud cheers by the congregation as Dr. Spio-Gabrah, resplendent in a dark-green “Agbada” spoke of how he was honored to take up the new appointment effective November 1, this year. “It’s an honour to be back to help build the church and to raise it to the next level on the principles of Archbishop Duncan-Williams. I hope to be a credit to the Action family across the world,” he told the congregation.
The man, who abandoned a lucrative job as the CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO), to pursue his presidential ambitions a few months ago, declined to speak on his future in politics, as men of God are often expected to eschew partisan politics because the church often unites people of different backgrounds in the service of God.
A man of diverse background and experiences as an international banker, communications executive of high repute, diplomat and politician, Dr. Spio-Garbrah was until recently the CEO of London-based CTO.
He brings to his new role in the house of God, a wealth of experience in mass communications and global networking with influential figures across the globe as a result of his previous role at the World Bank, African Development Bank, politician and as a diplomat.
Currently a board member of AngloGold Ashanti and Telekom South Africa, Dr. Spio-Garbrah stirred the hornet’s nest by declaring his presidential ambitions a few months ago when he mounted an open challenge to President John Atta Mills in the weeks leading up to the congress of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), a challenge many viewed with suspicion because of his closeness to rival candidate Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.
Although he withdrew his candidacy at the eleventh hour, political commentators believed the 58-year-old man still nurses presidential ambition to present another shot at Ghana’s top job in 2016.
Source: The Finder
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