Two former bishops have criticised Dag Heward-Mills. But their earlier statements, legal histories and a disputed multimillion-dollar settlement figure deserve attention too.
The Belgian documentary investigating Go Church has raised serious allegations concerning Bishop Dag Heward-Mills and Lighthouse Chapel International. Those claims deserve examination. So does the background of the people making them.
Emmanuel Oko Mensah and Lawrence Odonkor once held senior positions in Lighthouse. Both now criticise its leadership. Here are three pieces of context viewers should consider before reaching conclusions.
In the documentary, Emmanuel Oko Mensah is asked whether he was brainwashed during his years in the church. He answers: “Absolutely. One hundred per cent.” He also says the pressure works because God, the church, and the pastor merge into one entity.
Yet at his own consecration, he publicly thanked Dag Heward-Mills for being a patient father and for giving him opportunities.
He said: “Bishop has been so good to me.” He also thanked Dag Heward-Mills for giving a chance to people he described as flawed and unqualified, including himself.
What changed between those two accounts? Earlier praise does not automatically disprove later criticism — and a man who says he was brainwashed would expect to have felt grateful at the time. But the public should hear both statements, in context, and ask what explains the difference.
Lawrence “Larry” Odonkor alleges that problems within Lighthouse came from the top. His own legal history is also relevant background.
He is also the source of the harshest language in the programme. He says that if the devil walks the earth in the form of a human being, that is Mills; that he uses his brilliance to do evil; and that it is not about God at all, but about fame and money.
In April 2023, a court in Antananarivo, Madagascar, convicted him of breach of trust in proceedings concerning church funds and property. The judgment was delivered in his absence; it imposed a two-year prison sentence and 75 million Malagasy Ariary in damages. A December 2025 Ghana News Agency report said appeals had been dismissed in May 2024 and November 2025. Odonkor disputed the judgment.
In a separate Ghanaian case, an Accra Circuit Court acquitted him in September 2023, finding dishonest appropriation had not been established. The Attorney-General subsequently challenged that decision on appeal.
These are separate cases with different outcomes. Neither the Madagascar conviction nor the Ghanaian acquittal settles the truth of Odonkor’s allegations about Dag Heward-Mills. Readers should be given the full legal context.
Watch: “Larry Odonkor convicted for fraud” (UDVerse)
In 2021, reports emerged about a $12 million figure discussed in a dispute involving six former Lighthouse pastors, including Oko Mensah and Odonkor. Lighthouse’s lawyers alleged the former pastors had demanded that amount. Their lawyer denied making a formal demand; a mediator said the figure arose during settlement discussions as a possible calculation, not a formal demand.
That distinction matters. It would be inaccurate to state as an established fact that the men demanded $12 million or that money explains their later criticism. What is clear from the reporting is that a significant financial dispute formed part of the wider history.
Separately, a 2021 SSNIT determination was reported as largely supporting Lighthouse’s position on pension contributions, with one month’s contribution outstanding for Oko Mensah. That finding, and the former pastors’ objections, should be considered together.
A settlement letter of 16 December 2022 set the claim out person by person, under four headings, with a sub-total for each man and then a second figure four times larger.
| Name | Years | Underpayment | Compensation | Severance and resettlement | Sub-total | Luke 19:8 total |
| Faith Makafui Fiakojo | 6 | 25,200 | 3,400 | 125,000 | 178,800 | 715,200 |
| Edem Amankwah | 9 | 39,600 | 195,100 | 181,000 | 455,300 | 1,821,200 |
| Seth Duncan | 10 | 62,400 | 7,100 | 271,000 | 402,900 | 1,611,600 |
| Edward Laryea | 12 | 58,800 | 79,216 | 287,400 | 484,216 | 1,936,864 |
| Emmanuel Oko-Mensah | 17 | — | 25,630 | 519,750 | 545,380 | 2,181,520 |
| Lawrence Odonkor | 19 | 14,400 | 385,400 | 579,600 | 993,800 | 3,975,200 |
| TOTAL | 3,060,396 | 12,241,584 |
All figures in US dollars, payable in cedis. Pension contributions are not costed, only marked for update. Fees are stated as ten per cent of whatever is paid.
The itemised claim — underpayment, compensation, severance and resettlement — comes to about $3.06 million. The $12.24 million appears only in the final column, after a fourfold multiplier drawn from Luke 19:8, in which Zacchaeus the tax collector offers to restore fourfold anything he has taken. Every line is exactly four times its own sub-total.
The largest single claim is Lawrence Odonkor’s, at nearly $4 million — almost twice the next man’s, and roughly a third of the whole figure.
Go Church Belgium has publicly disputed allegations about its practices and has said donations are voluntary. Its responses deserve to be examined alongside the documentary’s claims, rather than left out of the conversation.
When relationships break down, memories and interpretations can change. But a falling-out does not erase genuine kindness, just as earlier gratitude does not rule out later grievances. That is why the recordings, court decisions, financial dispute and the church’s response should all be available to readers.
Watch the videos. Read the records. Hear the response. Then decide for yourself.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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