The religious leaders who were filmed praying at a galamsey site have registered their displeasure on the media for publishing falsehood.

According to the Christian Ecumenical Bodies of Ghana, they went to galamsey sites last Friday on a fact-finding mission and not to pray as reported in the media.

Following the viral video, President of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) Rev. Prof. Paul Frimpong Manso, has described those who reported as false news as “nation wreckers and irresponsible.”

The clergy have come under severe backlash on social media over a viral video of them praying at the site for the illegal activities to cease.

Reacting to the claims, Rev Prof Manso described such conclusion as irresponsible.

“Some of your colleagues are irresponsible, destructive and they are a disaster to the profession,” he told Accra-based Asaase Radio. “I have been very angry this weekend to read that the pastors went there to pray.”

“These are the people who are nation wreckers. We can pray in our rooms and our churches and will not mobilise journalists to galamsey sites to go and pray. We are not children. The Bible says ‘you cannot talk about what you have never seen and heard’. We’ve seen a lot of things trending on social media and others. As a church we have fought individually and it’s not working, so we said we want to come as a collective body to ascertain the facts,” Rev Prof Manso said.

He said as religious leaders, it was incumbent on them to begin every activity with a prayer, so they decided to pray to begin their mission at the site.

“The purpose was not to go and pray. We mobilised ourselves to the site and when we went there the first thing we did was to pray then followed by other things. But irresponsible journalists and irresponsible politicians who have lost their moral conscience come and be saying ‘this is not what to do’.

“We prayed before we did everything and that is the logic. We went there to ascertain the facts ahead of our press conference [today]. We went there to convey the right message to Ghanaians. And the message is that galamsey is a disaster,” he added.

Among the clergy who visited the sites were the immediate past chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana, Bishop Dr Paul Boafo, and the chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Ghana Apostle Eric Nyamekye.