Charles Owusu, who formerly served as the head of the Monitoring Unit at the Forestry Commission, has given the Ghana Standards Authority and the Ghana Revenue Authority the mandate to investigate and prosecute religious leaders who sell goods in their respective houses of worship.
Charles Owusu, while appearing on Peace FM's “Kokrokoo” morning show, lamented the practice of some pastors selling items to their congregants with the intention of warding off witches.
Among these items are favor oil, money perfume, and various types of cream referred to by these pastors as “Witches cream.”
Charles Owusu voiced grave worries about the lack of sanitary conditions and the potentially hazardous impacts of the items that these self-proclaimed religious leaders placed up for sale.
According to him, the Ghana Standards Authority, which is responsible for the maintenance of acceptable standards for products and services as well as sound management practices, ought to move into the churches in order to verify the authenticity of the products and take disciplinary action against the pastors.
In addition to this, he warned the Ghana Revenue Authority to levy sales taxes on every pastor who does business inside a church.
“I implore the Standard Board of Authority to ensure that we are familiar with the churches. We are aware of them, and we need to pursue them.
In addition to this, I would want to inform the GRA that it is not possible to impose a tax on offerings, but that persons must be taxed when they participate in commercial activity.
Therefore, if you are in a church and sell cream items to about 1,000 people, you may tell me that, in the name of God, you should retain the money in your pocket and not give it away. No! “They ought to start taxing those individuals,” he remarked.
