The office of prosecutions at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has opened investigations into the Lighthouse Chapel for its lack of payment of SSNIT contributions for workers.
Six former pastors of the church who have taken the church to court over abuse and lack of SSNIT payments have also made a complaint to the office of prosecutions at the state agency.
The office has accordingly opened an investigation into the church as failure to pay SSNIT contributions of employees violates Ghana’s labour laws and could lead to imprisonment.
SSNIT reportedly wrote to the church to seek clarification over why certain pastors’ contributions were not paid for years, but the church insists that some of them were volunteers and not employees and that they were also not responsible for their contributions whilst outside the country.
SSNIT disagreed.
A letter from the prosecution’s office to Lighthouse said that the pastors carried out all duties of employees including accounting for all their income and expenditure to the mother church and also having their movements dictated by the mother church, making them de-facto employees.
The SSNIT prosecutions manager Emmanuel Badoo is leading the investigation which carries a penalty of undiscolosed jail term.
Source: GhanaCelebrities.Com