Founder of collapsed church building at Akyem-Batabi granted bail

Prophet Akoa Isaac, the founder of Church of Prosperity, has been granted police enquiry bail after he was arrested on Friday, October 23, in relation to the collapse of his church building.

Sergeant Francis Gomado, the Deputy PRO of the Eastern Regional Police Command, said: “The leader of the church was arrested on Friday. He was made to write a statement to aid in investigations. As we speak he is on a police enquiry bail. He will be reporting periodically until the final determination of the case.”

“Investigation is ongoing, all concerned parties are collaborating. Definitely, we will come to the bottom of it and whatever is arrived at will be made known to the public.”

Rescuers led by the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) retrieved 22 dead bodies including that of a baby girl from the rubble after the church’s uncompleted three-story building collapsed last Tuesday.

Eight lives were saved by rescuers during the earlier stages of rescue efforts.

Background

The collapse of the uncompleted three-storey church building occurred last Tuesday at about 2:30 pm.

Prophet Akoa Isaac who is the leader of the church told the police in his caution statement after his arrest that he was sick and lying in his residence on the same compound of the Church when he heard the sound of the collapsing church building.

He added that he was told that about 56 worshippers were in and around the building fasting and praying when the incident happened.

When the police proceeded to the scene, 35 of the worshippers were seen traumatized, while a 60-year-old woman identified as Afia Tamakloe, was lying dead. The rest were trapped under the rubble.

A joint rescue team made up of officials of the National Disaster Management Organization, NADMO, Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Ambulance Service, the BNI, National Security, and the Ghana Armed Forces, rescued 13 victims a few hours after the incident.

Out of the 13, six -all female - were dead; and one was in a critical condition.

The remaining six victims who were not in very serious danger namely Adu Godfred, 21; Erasmus Larner, 25; Elizabeth Toot,18; Bridget Birorey, 59; Jonas Larner, 45; and Charity Addison, 38, were treated and later discharged from the Oda Government Hospital.

One of the survivors gave this account: “We were resting in the church building after fasting and prayers so whilst resting, we heard portions of the building coming down. We were over 60 in the building [and] we started running away. Some of the people managed to escape but others were trapped”.

Some residents say construction of the church building started in 1996 hence they suspect that its structural integrity continued to weaken through years of inactivity and shoddy work.