Features
A dilemma called Ghana (Part 4)
Ghana’s coat of arms
In this penultimate edition of my five-part series on the above topic, I seek to discuss the road to what has become wrongly termed the Fourth Republic. I make this assertion because Ghana has never been re-colonised since our independence on March 6, 1957, and our republican status in 1960.
I will look at certain landmarks since the 31st December Revolution that brought Jerry Rawlings back into the saddle, this time with a Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) that ruled for eleven years.
I was on a short holiday in Ghana when 31st December happened and I went through the hassle of chasing an exit permit to be able to fly out of the country. That period saw the harshest hamarttan season I have ever witnessed.
Once again, many Ghanaians supported the return of Rawlings since the PNP administration was bickering within itself instead of focussing on governance. Workers Defence Committees (WDC) and People’s Defence Committees (PDC) were set up to uphold and ensure probity and accountability with revolutionary fervour.
These committees were later to merge as Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR). The CDR were empowered to adjudicate and resolve certain petty litigations. Public Tribunals were set up to fast track legal matters since the courts were considered too slow with justice delivery.
But the Revolution was roundly condemned in the Western media. Nigerian media were vociferous in their condemnation of the situation in Ghana. Their stance was to shift later in 1982, when Rawlings attended an ECOWAS meeting in Lagos. As part of his closing remarks, Rawlings said something to the effect that their deliberations would be meaningless if the conference was just a forum for drinking wine and photo ops and no action was taken.
By that delivery, Rawlings became the darling of the Nigerian media. And that respect has been there to date. No wonder Nigerians kept saying that if we did not want Rawlings, we should send him to them.
However, that country was to deport over a million and a half Ghanaians in 1983. I was reporting on the harrowing experience the deportees were facing in various suburbs of Lagos for the media organisation I was an intern with in that country. Many lost their belongings or gave them away at ridiculously low prices. Some others ran back to Ghana with vehicles belonging to their bosses.
Our compatriots came home to a country that was suffering a devastating drought and bush fires with virtually no food to feed the masses. But the PNDC marshalled a team to get the returnees settled. The National Mobilisation Programme was set up, and that became a rallying point for disaster management.
The Programme was to settle the returnees within 90 days. It later set up Mobisquads that engaged in replanting cocoa plantations burnt by wildfires on a voluntary basis. They were in every corner of the country, helping farmers, and food production was on the mend.
The PNDC encouraged women’s participation in the decision making process. The 31st December Women’s Movement idea, which was originally mooted by the likes of Mrs. Nicol, Cecilia Johnson, Sherry Ayittey, and others, became concretised and put women empowerment on a high pedestal under the presidency of Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, wife of Jerry Rawlings.
Rawlings’ charisma and bonding with the people were the rallying points for the national drive to change the direction of governance where the people owned their decisions. But dissent was growing both at home and abroad. As the pressure gathered momentum, the PNDC set up a National Commission for Democracy to collect and collate views on the way forward for the country.
The verdict was that Ghana needed a return to constitutional democracy. As a result, a consultative assembly was elected to draft a constitution that was put to the people in a referendum for approval. The 1992 Constitution was, therefore, overwhelmingly endorsed by Ghanaians.
The fact that constitutional democracy was being restored did not mean the PNDC was a failure. Road infrastructure, schools, health facilities, and some industries were improved to appreciable levels, thanks to Rawlings’ personal hands-on approach to leadership. Professionalism was injected into the Armed Forces, which to a large extent won them the respect they had lost under the SMC regimes.
Many political parties sprang up for Election 1992. The actors of the PNDC formed the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nkrumah’s CPP was splintered into many parties and the Progress Party became the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Rawlings won the presidential election as the NDC candidate against the NPP’s Prof. Albert Adu Boahen. Not satisfied with the result, the NPP boycotted the parliamentary vote.
The NDC again won the general elections in 1996 with the NPP entering Parliament this time. Constitutional democracy was working for Ghana. With this came many structural reforms in education, the judiciary, commerce, and health delivery.
The revolutionary verve was receding as government policies were scrutinised and dissected by the opposition and the media. Though Rawlings’s charisma was intact, democratic protocols impeded his free-spirited leadership style. Ordinary people’s access to him was restricted. Though he found a way to break protocol occasionally, it was very few and far between.
Election 2000 saw the NPP win under the leadership of Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor. The campaign was toxic, with the NPP accusing the NDC of corruption and lacking the economic savvy to continue in power. The NDC, on the other hand, pointed to the political antecedents of the tribalistic divisiveness of the NPP.
The NPP declared Ghana a highly indebted poor country (HIPC), a situation that made lending countries forgive the country’s debts. It allowed for more inflows of cash and grants. The cedi was re-denominated with three zeroes yanked off. A thousand cedis then became One Ghana Cedi. It is instructive that even today, some Ghanaians refer to the cedi in the old terms. A hundred cedis is still One Million, isn’t it?
Professor John Evans Atta Mills, the NDC candidate and who was Rawlings’ Vice President, took the electoral loss in stride and bided his time. He lost again to Kufuor in 2004. With campaign messages of corruption and nepotism against the Kufuor administration, the NDC took the electoral fight to the NPP.=
The HIPC idea had lost steam, and the government took the country out of the programme and began a new journey into the international borrowing market. Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, with John Dramani Mahama as running mate, won Election 2008 against the NPP’s Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
I recall a private chat he had with me after I interviewed him at the NDC congress at the University of Ghana in 2006. Prof. Mills told me why he wanted to be president. He said, “My brother, as humans, we must abhor greed and selfishness in public office. Birds sing without seeking an audience. Flowers give out fragrances, asking for nothing in return. Trees take carbon dioxide and give us oxygen, but only humans have the propensity to cheat nature and their fellow humans. This must stop.”
Prof. Mills epitomised what the import of his chat with me portrayed throughout his time as President. A deeply religious man, he did not shy away from holding occasional prayer sessions at the presidency, to the chagrin of the opposition. He was visibly furious with state institutions whose staff condoned acts of corruption.
In spite of his health concerns, Atta Mills was on top of national issues until his sudden death on July 24, 2012, at age 68. I was in New York when my daughter called to inform me. At JFK that evening, other passengers on our flight to Accra got to know as I was discussing the sad situation with a classmate of the late President.
John Dramani Mahama was to be sworn in as President that evening in accordance with constitutional provisions.
By Dr Akofa K. Segbefia
Writer’s email address:
akofa45@yahoo.com
Features
The Prophet part 4
Antobam woke up with a terrible headache. He checked the time on his mobile phone, 2:30 am. “What! Where is the money?” He asked aloud. “Where are those girls? Why did I drink so much of that whisky? What were those two girls up to?” He sat up on the bed and noticed a bulge close to the pillow.
He lifted the mattress and picked up the newspaper wrappers with the neatly arranged notes. He saw the neatly written record of the value of the notes. No, those girls are not thieves.
“It was my mistake. If I hadn’t drank myself to sleep they would be here in bed with me, giving me the time of my life. Pretty girls, those two. And so loyal and honest. Tomorrow will be different.”
“I will not drink any whisky, and I will show them that I am a real man. Just then he heard the whispers. Very soon it will be time, they seemed to be saying. This is an important day.”
The gold dealer will bring lots of money. Give him some of the liquid to drink, and we will prepare him. He will do very big business, and he will give you anything you ask for. There will be more miracles and testimonies today.
Antobam smiled to himself. “I am going to be a very rich man in only a few days man. Money, power, and women. Wow! Antobam got to the grounds at 5, but there were quite a number of people waiting.
Mr Kwame Dofu was among them. He greeted them all, and they came around to shake his hand. “My brothers and sisters, I assure you that whatever your problem is, you will not go home without a solution.” Shouts of “Amen” “thank” you Osofo and “you are a true man of God” responded.
“Please take your seats, and start talking to the great one about whatever bothers you. Before the service is over, there will be a solution.” He waved Mr Dofu over, and went with him to the wooden structure that serves as a temporary office.
“My brother, I have done quite a lot of work on the issue you came to see me about. I have prepared a special, powerful package for you. Take this, drink it, and go back to your business. I want to see you in two weeks.”
Beaming with smiles, Mr Dofu drank the foul smelling liquid in two gulps, said a big thank you to Antobam and took his leave. “I believe you, Papa Osofo. And I assure you that I will reward you, big time.”
Just when Osofo Antubam finished with Mr Dofu, Mary and Suzzie went over to him. “Good Morning ladies. I am very sorry about yesterday. I drank too much of the stuff you gave me. Today will be different, I assure you.”
“Don’t worry, Osofo. Since you are now setting things up, our main concern now is to help you to put things in place, and to make you comfortable. We are always there to serve you. This morning, Osofo, we want to go and clean up your place, and prepare something nice for you when you close.
And before coming to church, we will pass by the bank and collect the forms. After you have signed them, the account will be open. You can check the payments anytime and, of course, issue cheques whenever you need money.”
“Suzzie and Mary, I am happy I picked the two of you from the very start. Listen, I will take good care of you, okay? Here is some money. Buy whatever you need for the errands you have mentioned.
And here is the key. Please come back as early as you can. You know I need you here.” The service was very lively. The lively singing of praise songs was followed by one and a half hours of testimonies.
Most of them related to money – big sales, new jobs and overdue debts paid. But there were also testimonies about healing. Barren women had taken seed, and, of course, several men who had lost their bedroom authority had regained them, to the delight of their partners.
As he had promised, Antobam preached for only 30 minutes, exhorting the congregation to attend church regularly, pay their tithes and offerings, and strictly follow his ‘directions’ for securing solutions to their problems.
After another round of praises during which the congregation danced to the floor to drop their offering, he closed the service, grabbed the big bowl which was full to the brim with money, and moved to his desk. A long queue was quickly formed at the desk.
Meanwhile, Mary and Suzzie had gone to give Antobam’s place quite a decent look. A new bedsheet and pillows, a secondhand carpet and four plastic chairs placed in the verandah had done the trick.
They also prepared two fish and chicken stews. After all these, they rushed to the National Savings Bank and collected application forms for opening current and savings accounts.
They joined the service a few minutes before the main session closed. Antobam looked round and saw, to his relief, Mary and Suzzie moving towards him. “Hello ladies. What have you been up to?” “Quite a bit, Osofo. We’ve just collected your drink. Here you are. We’ve made a few changes at your place. I think you will like it. You will also have something nice to eat. Now, here are the forms for the savings and current accounts.
If you will sign them, the bank will open the account. From today, we can pay all monies direct into the account.” ‘How can I thank you, ladies?” “You don’t need to thank us,” Suzzie said. “It is our duty to help a man of God succeed.” “Okay, my ladies, please take the offerings and count them as you did yesterday.
You can add the payments made after the consultations. Will it be possible to pay them into the account today?” “Yes,” Mary said. “The bank closes at four. If we leave here at three, we would be there just in time.”
The two friends started counting, as Osofo Antobam gave his clients his directions for solving their problems. On quite a few occasions he closed his eyes as if he was receiving direction from above on what to do.
But as the fetish priest at the Nana Kofi Broni shrine and the dwarfs had assured him, the solutions would certainly be provided. Having heard the huge testimonies earlier in the day, the clients parted with substantial sums of money in expectation.
By Ekow de Heer
Features
The issue of spiritual father in our churches
A student was supposed to go to school as the natural cause of events should be when universities or schools in general opens but this was not the case in a certain young man’s life.
He decided to postpone his trip because apparently he could not get to meet his pastor, his spiritual father. The question is, should this spiritual father die, will the young man’s life come to an end?
Does it mean in such an instance, he is going to curtail his education? This is a worrying trend in a lot of churches where the pastors use this notion of spiritual father to manipulate members especially the youth.
Some unscrupulous pastors utilise this spiritual father concept to have affairs with gullible young ladies in their churches.
Now with homosexuality gradually making inroads into some of the churches, young men are becoming vulnerable to pastors who have hidden homosexual inclinations.
This spiritual father concept is a Biblical concept that runs through both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. We see it in 2 Kings 4:12 where Gehazi is serving Elisha and also in the New Testament we see Paul relating to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:2 as a Spiritual Father.
In fact, the concept of spiritual father is a good thing if executed according to the word of God since it helps in guiding the younger ones. However, it becomes problematic when it is being executed by unscrupulous wolves in sheepskins as described by Jesus in Mathew 7:15.
I see it as a way that these unscrupulous so-called men of God maintain their hold on the congregants so they do not question their unchristian actions.
One of the things I have observed since I got born again many years ago is that, any pastor who often insists that members recognise that he is their spiritual father is a warning sign that he is doing some wrong things or is about to indulge in some wrong things.
A parent complained about how his daughter was being influenced by a pastor of the church she attends and how worried he was. I am sure there are many parents out there with stories to tell about how their wards are being made to see their pastors almost like their Jesus.
These pastors have managed to make their congregants so loyal to them and to believe in them so much that it is terrifying, as a parent.
The way things are going, an immediate intervention is required otherwise I am not a prophet of doom but I forsee unfortunate instances where parents burst into church auditoriums and star shooting some Pastors out of frustration and anger.
We cannot look on unconcerned as a society and allow unscrupulous fraudsters using the name of God to create problems for families. My recommendation is for a certain amount of regulation in order to bring some sanity in religious practices.
I agree that ordinarily regulating religious practices makes it a bit restrictive in terms of freedom of worship as enshrined in our constitution but given the way things are going, a bit of regulation will not be out of place.
Disgusting stuff are being attributed to some men of God. There are cases of manipulation of young ladies and sometimes married women by so called men of God and it is bringing Christianity and therefore the name of the Lord into disrepute.
Christianity is gradually losing its attractiveness as a result of the negative reportage resulting from disgusting stuff happening in Christian circles. The way some pastors have been manipulating congregants to take money from them leaves much to be desired to the point where they are convincing some of the youth to give out their phones. May God help us.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
