The Anglican Church in Ghana has reacted to the viral video of one of its priests, Rev. Obeng Larbi, for kissing three female congregants on the altar during a religious service.
The church said in a statement that the priest had been relieved of his duties at the St. Monica’s College of Education in Asante Mampong with immediate effect.
The church authorities announced this after a closed-door meeting adding that Larbi had ceased to be the Chaplain and lawyer of the school until further notice.
The Anglican Communion, Internal Province of Ghana said in a statement that it was saddened by the incident and promised that a “thorough investigation has immediately been instituted into the matter” while “the priest would be dealt with in accordance with the norms and values of the Anglican Church where morality is extremely revered in the Church.
‘‘The attention of the hierarchy of the Anglican Church, Ghana under the leadership of the Most Rev’d Dr. Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith has been to the circulating video of a Priest kissing some female students at the St. Monica’s College of Education within the Asante-Mampong region.
‘‘The Church is saddened by the news and wishes to state expressly that; thorough investigation has immediately been instituted into the matter…The action of the said Priest would be dealt with in accordance with the norms and values of the Anglican Church where morality is extremely revered in the Church.
‘‘Meanwhile, all efforts are being made to engage the students concerned through counselling sessions to avert any psychological issues that may arise as a result of the viral video,’’ said the executive director to the Metropolitan Archbishop of Ghana, Venerable Dr. George Dawson-Ahmoah, who signed the statement.
Recall that the priest was filmed kissing three female students during a Sunday service at St. Monica’s College of Education in the Ashanti region.
The shocking clip which has been circulating on Twitter shows the priest stretching forth his head from the pulpit to kiss the women in their mouth, one after the other, while the worshippers kept shouting.
A Ghanaian news website, Star FM, quoted a female student of the college as saying that the school authorities were looking for the student who recorded and shared the clip.
The unnamed student said the priest was kissing the students as “a show of appreciation”.
The report did not, however, mention what the priest was appreciating the students for.
“The father in the video kissing the students didn’t know we were going to post the video,” the student said.
“We were not comfortable with the situation, that’s why we were shouting. This is the first time he’s doing this. He gave the school chaplain a kiss and then did (the) same to the three female Bible readers. The third girl the father kissed is a virgin and that’s why she gave her cheek to the father to kiss but he forced and kissed her lips.”
