{"id":382995,"date":"2017-12-13T17:31:54","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T17:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=382995"},"modified":"2017-12-14T05:58:21","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T05:58:21","slug":"street-preacher-arrested-for-destroying-kma-noise-control-vehicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/12\/street-preacher-arrested-for-destroying-kma-noise-control-vehicle\/","title":{"rendered":"Street preacher arrested for ‘destroying’ KMA noise control vehicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police in the Ashanti Region have arrested a mobile preacher for allegedly destroying the windscreen of a vehicle belonging to the Noise Control Department of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly.<\/p>\n

The preacher, Abraham Arthur, who has since been granted bail, is said to have resisted arrest when personnel from the Noise Control Department went to stop him from making noise around the Asafo interchange on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

According to the department, the preacher struggled with the personnel and subsequently used one of his gadgets to hit the windscreen of their vehicle several times, causing a huge damage.<\/p>\n

The development comes few weeks after the Ashanti Regional Minister ordered the arrest of the head pastor <\/a><\/strong><\/span>of the House of Bethel Ministry for noise making during an all-night service.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Kumasi Metropolitan Noise Control Officer, Edmund Kombal, who narrated the incident to Citi News<\/strong>,\u00a0said he wants the police to prosecute the preacher to serve as a deterrent to others.<\/p>\n

He expressed worry over what he described as a trend of street preachers attacking KMA officials when they are approached over their activity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the department has confiscated the gadgets belonging to the preacher.<\/p>\n

\u2018Noisy church\u2019 left me no choice \u2013 Minister defends pastor\u2019s arrest<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, who similarly arrested a pastor for noisemaking, later told Citi News he had no option than to involve the police to disrupt the watch night service of the House of Bethel Ministry, as they were making excessive noise in the early hours of Saturday Morning.<\/p>\n

According to the Minister, the church, which is located at Anwomaso-High Tension, a suburb of Kumasi, ignored his previous warnings, as they appeared to have increased the noise levels in an act of defiance.<\/p>\n

Mr. Osei Mensah was said to have stormed the church at about 12:30am, with armed Police officers, and ordered them to halt an ongoing Watch Night Service because of the noise making. The pastor was released in the morning on the same Saturday.<\/p>\n

The head pastor of the church, Reverend Kwame Takyi, was arrested and put behind bars, and granted bail later on Saturday morning around 8:00am, according to Citi News\u2019 Ashanti Regional Correspondent, Hafiz Tijani.<\/p>\n

Defending his approach, Mr. Osei Mensah said he has complained \u201cseveral times [about the noise levels]. Yesterday [Friday], around midnight, they were making a lot of noise. I entered the church and I told them the level of the noise was too high.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there were about 30 people in the congregation and he did not see the reason for all that noise \u201cthat we cannot even sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment after I warned them and left, it [the noise] became even worse. Maybe I annoyed them so they rather increased the volume and I had no other option but to report them to the police,\u201d Mr. Osei Mensah added.<\/p>\n

Church disputes noise-making claim<\/strong><\/p>\n

The church, however doesn\u2019t think it was making too much noise.<\/p>\n

The Secretary of the House of Bethel Ministry, Stephen Osei, said to Citi News that, \u201cat a point, the police felt the noise that was going on wasn\u2019t something that could disrupt the place because it is a programme we do every last Friday of the month. He [the Regional Minister] has always been here with us and this time, we felt surprised this thing was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally what we do is that, by 1:30 AM, we leave the microphone to the pastor to preach, and then we mute everything in the room. People are not allowed to sing in the room,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Unlawful arrest or show of power?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are concerns the Minister may have acted in an unlawful manner, using his office and privilege as a public officer to intimidate the church.<\/p>\n

Although there are by-laws on noise making in Ghana, they are mostly not enforced, worsening the situation across the country.<\/p>\n

It is however unclear whether the Minister acted appropriately by ordering the arrest of the pastor, considering that in most cases of this nature, complaints are first made at the Assemblies\u2019 departments that deals with such matters, or to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).<\/p>\n

This is because, such noise levels are measured with noise meters by these officials, to determine the permissible and non-permissible levels.<\/p>\n

And in most of these cases, fines are often slapped on offenders rather than imprisonment terms, except in cases where a convict fails to pay the fine.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Hafiz Tijani\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police in the Ashanti Region have arrested a mobile preacher for allegedly destroying the windscreen of a vehicle belonging to the Noise Control Department of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly. The preacher, Abraham Arthur, who has since been granted bail, is said to have resisted arrest when personnel from the Noise Control Department went to stop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":382999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,11],"tags":[3,551,221,14918],"yoast_head":"\nStreet preacher arrested for 'destroying' KMA noise control vehicle - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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