Thieves silence worshippers

What programme the Ashaiman North Presbyterian Church of Ghana had to make the Easter a memorable one had to be shelved at the last minute when thieves broke into the church and stole a brand new set of musical instruments.

The congregation, desirous to dance and sing praises to God to the tunes of the new musical instruments had to resign themselves to normal clapping and songs from the choir rendering the Easter festivities the most unexciting in recent times.

The instruments were commissioned at a short ceremony on Palm Sunday, a week before Easter, and were stolen the following Wednesday, two days before the Easter festivities, when they were to be shown to a larger congregation including guests from other parishes.

The instruments which cost ?40 million included an amplifier, an audio mixer, a Peavey keyboard combo, Peavey equaliser, four Sekaku type microphones and a professional headphone.

The rest are a Cannon to Cannon microphone cable, Peavey mono crossover and a Sanyo double cassette deck. In an interview, the bemused head pastor of the church, Catechist Lawrence Ansah, said “I know there are thieves at Ashaiman, but I didn’t know they could extend their operations to the church”.

He said the items were credited by the church a few months ago to replace the old and outmoded instruments used by the church.

He said the church which has since been paying for the instruments in instalments, still has ?12 million to pay to its creditors.

Catechist Ansah said the instruments are normally packed and locked in a room in the church after every service. However, when some members of the congregation met last Wednesday to fellowship, they detected that the newly acquired instruments had been stolen leaving only the old ones.

Catechist Ansah said he was informed about the theft but“ initially I didn’t believe it was true since thieves do not normally steal from church premises.

“But after two days when there seemed to be no sign of the return of the instruments, I came to the conclusion that the items were indeed stolen and therefore the need to mount a search for them”.

Catechist Ansah noted that although the items were nowhere to be found, the room where the instruments were kept was not broken into and had been locked with the same padlocks.

Asked whether he suspects any of the members of the congregation, he answered, “ I don’t have any reason to suspect any of them, but if any of them is involved, God will let the truth come out”.

Catechist Ansah, however, appealed to those involved to return the instruments, , adding that they can be assured of confidentiality and special prayers to help them reform.

Meanwhile the church has begun a series of activities which includes fasting and prayer meetings as part of its measures to retrieve the stolen instruments.

According to Superintendent Asubonteng of the Ashaiman police station, the case has been reported to them and it is being investigated