Ghana expels missionaries, bans Church
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Missionaries of the LDS Church and those of the Jehovah's Witnesses have been expelled from Ghana.
Leaders, missionaries and members were surprised by a June 14 notice banning missionary work in this western African nation, in which there are some 6,000 LDS. Also banned were two small Ghana sects.The government of Ghana gave LDS and Jehovah's Witnesses missionaries a one-week deadline to leave the country, and ordered that the churches be closed. Seventy-two of the 89 LDS missionaries who had been serving in Ghana at the time of the ban were citizens of that country; the remaining 12 missionaries were couples called from outside Ghana.
LDS Church spokesman Jerry Cahill told the Church News that 13 LDS representatives - including three members associated with the Church Educational System - arrived in London from Ghana on Tuesday, June 20. Ghana Accra Mission Pres. Gilbert Petramalo and his wife and another couple were to arrive in London on Wednesday, June 21.
On the state-owned radio Wednesday, June 14, the government of Ghana announced the ban on the churches for "conducting themselves in a manner that undermines the sovereignty of Ghana." LDS leaders in Ghana had no advance notice of the ban. "They learned about it when it was broadcast," Cahill reported.
On June 21, Cahill said, "We are still studying the situation and awaiting the opportunity to talk in more detail with the mission president after his arrival in London from Accra."
