Dean of Accra elected suffragan bishop of Tema

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George Kotei Neequaye

The Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Accra has been elected suffragan bishop of Accra with responsibility for the diocese in formation of Tema.

The Very Rev. George Kotei Neequaye was elected at the second session of the 24th diocesan synod on 25 Sept 2021. Dr. Neequaye was one of three candidates standing for election to oversee the eastern region of the diocese. The nominated candidates were Dr. Neequaye, the Archdeacon of Tema, the Ven. Samuel Hansen-Addy and the Archdeacon of Accra East, the Ven. Antonio Tello Nelson.

In August, the first session of synod voted to spin off the Tema archdeaconry as a new diocese. The Bishop of Accra, the Rt. Rev. Daniel Sylvanus Mensah Torto told the first session the new diocese would be “comprised the administration area within the Greater Accra Region; bounded at the south by the Gulf of Guinea, on the West by the Weija Dam to Bortianor and beyond, on the north by Achimota and Amasaman and its environs.”

Bishop Torto said the growth of the Anglican church in the eastern areas of greater Accra around Tema justified the creation of the new diocese. It would also allow him to spend less time traveling and more in episcopal ministry across his large diocese. 

In a brief acceptance speech, Dr. Neequaye pledged to support Bishop Torto’s work to create a new diocese. The new jurisdiction would be the 12th diocese of the internal Province of Ghana in the Church of the Province of West Africa.

The bishop-elect would not automatically take the helm of the new diocese once it was formed, Bishop Torto told the synod, as the new diocese would hold an election to elect its own diocesan bishop.