With sessions of prayer, wailing and song ministration, a group of Ghanaian pastors is reinforcing the hope pressed by President Kufuor last week that "God will not allow the Akosombo dam to hang". Indeed, before the President's expression of faith, the group, with members from Tema, Atimpoku and Suhum, had begun the crusade for divine redemption, confident that what looked an impossible task before mortals was possible before God. They traced their belief to scripture and the days of the prophets when the Israelites faced prolonged drought and Elijah led them to pray for rains, as captured at 1 Kings 17:1 and 1 Kings 18:45. Comprising men of God from the Local Council of Churches from Atimpoku and Pastors Network from Accra, Tema and Suhum, the group said it had decided to pray regularly and fast for God to restore the water in the lake to a level that would guarantee the full supply of energy for the country. The pastors for about an hour prayed, sang and wept in their plea to God to intercede on behalf of the nation. While addressing the staff of the Volta River Authority (VRA) last Tuesday, President J. A. Kufuor had expressed optimism that "God will not allow the dam to hang". The group went on top of the dam to pray and also visited the power room for the same purpose. Some visitors to the dam site, who were touched by the gesture of the pastors, joined them in singing praises to God, while others derided them for engaging in an exercise in futility. Some senior members of staff of the Graphic Communications Group Ltd who took time off their busy mid-year review meeting at the Volta Hotel to visit the dam joined in the prayer session. Rev Gordon Orbin, a member of the group, said the exercise, which the group started about two weeks ago, had paid off with the stabilization of the dam and its gradual rise. As of Saturday, the water level in the dam had experienced a marginal rise from the all time low of 234.96 feet to 235.05 feet. Rev Orbin said the pastors were mindful of some technical challenges facing the dam and the degradation of the environment that had brought the country to this present state but indicated that as believers in God, they were hopeful that their intercessory prayers would pay good dividends. He said the group's intervention was not for rain to cause destruction but to seek God's intervention for more rains in the country for productive activities. Rev. Orbin said the group was not deterred by the negative remarks of some people about its intervention, saying that since God Himself had asserted that anywhere two or three people were gathered in His name He was in their midst, it was hopeful that the dam would get back to its normal level very soon. Others who participated in the exercise included Lawrence Larry Lawal, Rev Emmanuel Kwesi Owusu, Pastor Paul Boakye and Rev Ernest Osei Agyemang, the General Overseer of the Power Celebrations Chapel, who appealed to God-fearing Ghanaians to join them in subsequent prayer sessions. Mr. Samuel de Graft-Johnson, an official of the VRA conducted the visitors round the facility and said with some rains in the north, there was hope of a gradual rise in the water level. He said two of the turbines currently working were so designed that at the present water level they could still function and that it was not true that the dam was being put at risk. Source: Daily Graphic