Lome, 07 December, 2021 / 8:40 pm (ACI Africa).
Catholic Bishops in the West African nation of Togo have faulted the move by the government requiring that anyone accessing places of worship shows his or her COVID-19 vaccine certificate.
On November 20, the government announced that beginning December 10, a COVID-19 vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test dating back 3 days will be required to access places of worship.
In a communiqué issued Monday, December 6, members of the Episcopal Conference of Togo (CET) say, “For the past three (3) weeks, you have been following and praying for the evolution of the steps taken by the Episcopal Conference of Togo (CET), following the communiqué of the Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration, making access to places of worship conditional on the presentation of a vaccination card or a negative PCR test dating back 3 days.”
“We have, on several occasions, clearly expressed our disagreement with this decision of the Government,” CET members say in the communiqué shared with ACI Africa.
They add, “In his communiqué of 2 December 2021, the Minister of State maintained his stance and announced the dispatch of control agents to places of worship from 10 December 2021.”