Saturday,
June 15, 2013
I return
to the two main religious camps (Christian and Muslim) that the NPP has
concentrated attention on for political capital.
That was even why the NPP’s
official national campaign for Election 2012 was launched with a
non-denominational church service at Essikado, near Takoradi, which immediately
drew the parameters for the incorporation of religion into the agenda for
hardcore politics.
We saw how Dr. Bawumia
criss-crossed the country, entering mosques and commiserating with his fellow
Muslims during prayers and celebration of Muslim festivals. We also read news
reports on how Akufo-Addo had targeted the Muslim community and even declared
his intention to establish a “Zongo Development Fund” for the Muslim
communities.
Even though Akufo-Addo
concentrated his outreach efforts on the Christian community, he beefed up his
running mate’s campaigns among the Muslim community by ingratiating himself to
Muslim leaders and rank and file, especially when he visited Northern Ghana.
We are aware of the dangerous
rumours about his urinating on a mosque in Damongo, which turned out to be an
expensive prank played on him by his detractors. But that prank did point
something out to suggest that his tapping into the Muslim community for
political advantage was being closely watched.
Then again, we recall how
Akufo-Addo visited Jerusalem and did acts, one of which was photographed and
circulated as he went through the motion near the Wailing Wall.
Back home, all manner of church
leaders congregated around him, taking him through unceasing rounds of
spiritual cleansing and exhortations so he would be touched by the Hand of God
and favoured to win the elections. The posture adopted was encapsulated in the
Biblical vein: “The battle is the Lord’s”.
We were bombarded with prophecies
from the so-called “men-of-God” to whom Akufo-Addo had endeared himself. The
Rev. Owusu Bempahs and many others hijacked the airwaves to prophesy a “one-touch
victory” for him on December 7, which message was blared all over to pump up Akufo-Addo’s
ego and heighten the optimism of the NPP supporters.
Come December 7 and the wailing
from the Akufo-Addo camp was audibly clear that something was amiss. Come
December 8 when voting was completed and the gnashing of teeth began. Come
December 9 when the Electoral Commissioner announced the outcome of Election
2012 and the flexing of muscles began.
There and then, rancour took
over. Threats against the Electoral Commission and its Chair (Dr. Kwadwo Afari
Gyan) dominated the political landscape as things fell apart for Akufo-Addo and
the centre of the NPP’s political edifice couldn’t hold anymore. Their swan
song couldn’t be missed.
Spurred on by this electoral
defeat, the tune changed: “To the Supreme Court we will go to seek justice… We
have been robbed… There can be no peace without justice…!”
The consequence is what has
happened over 33 days of sitting by the Supreme Court to hear their petition.
Although the so-called “Men-of-God”
whose predictions buoyed up Akufo-Addo’s expectations have receded to the
background after their self-fulfilling prophecies exploded in their faces, the
attempt to exploit religion hasn’t abated.
Akufo-Addo has gone to all
lengths and breadths to virtually institutionalize prayer-and-fasting sessions
at home and abroad. I hear his immediate family members can’t cease doing so,
believing that their vanguard role was the impetus for all others in their
circles to seek the face of God for Akufo-Addo’s benefit.
The man himself has turned to
anybody or any group that professes to be using religion to fight his cause. We
have seen pictures of him at a candlelight prayer vigil with JSS graduates
whose hope was that he would eventually become Ghana’s President to fulfill his
promise of fee-free senior high school education for them to move on.
The role of the Muslim community
in Akufo-Addo’s post-Election 2012 politico-religious escapades cannot be
missed. We have read news reports about prayer sessions organized for his cause
by Muslims in some parts of the country.
What has just been reported is
the culmination of such efforts. Clearly, the Free Education Now Prayer Group (FENPG), a pressure group
with links to the NPP, must be carrying their efforts to the extreme,
hoping that they could sustain the atmosphere of religiosity for political
purposes. But therein lies their problem.
A
dangerous precedent is being set with this recourse to religious sentiments to
whip up political activism. Not intending to impute any wrongdoing to these
Muslims, though, I want to say that they have set in motion an event that will
likely become the incubator for fundamentalism/extremism in our political
affairs.
I
know how dangerous religious fundamentalism (especially by indoctrinated Muslim
youths) can be. The world already has evidence of such a problem, and I need
not dilate on it.
Undoubtedly,
doctrinal differences have been the catalysts for such fundamentalism. Add to
that the religious differences (as it would be between Christians and Muslims,
for instance) and you have too much in hand to contend with. Dogmatism is a
major distasteful ingredient in this potpourri of faith.
Worse
still, add antagonistic political inclinations (as we have in the case of the
NPP and the NDC) to this religious acrimony and you have a mountain of trouble
to flee from. What I am saying is that we already have too much antagonism at
the political front and need not sit down unconcerned for religious sentiments
to be injected into the bloodstream. Militancy in religion and politics is bad;
worse still is the danger that the society faces when the militancy at both
fronts is amalgated and condensed as a weapon of choice to fight political
opponents.
Only
a sick mind will discount the danger portended by this whipping up of
sentiments at the religious front for political leverage. I am foreseeing
danger ahead, especially because those youthful elements being mobilized to use
their religious fervour to prop up a disappointed politician’s dogged stance against
reality constitute a rapid deployment force at the beck-and-call of their
manipulators.
That
is why it is important for us to point out this danger at this stage. Who knows
what else is being done to prepare the minds of these malleable
politico-religious elements for any future assignment or engagement?
We
note here that little drops of water make a mighty ocean. What we see emerging
from all these isolated events are clear warning signals to act on.
I
am not against any politician’s effort to mobilize support from all segments of
the society; but I decry the extent to which these aggrieved NPP people are
pushing themselves. They seem to be calculating and using religion as a subtle
means to prosecute their grand agenda.
The sharp disappointment at
Election 2012 has bitten deep into their affairs, but it has only helped
sustain the religious fervour. What for, I don’t know. But they know it, which
is to appeal to God to intervene in the affairs of the 9 Supreme Court judges
hearing their appeal so that they would overturn the outcome of Election 2012
to put Akufo-Addo in power.
Why waste energy closing the
stable doors after the horses have long run out into the wilderness?
I
shall return…
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