Features
Ghana: When hypocrisy preaches ‘melodious honesty’
In a democracy, the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed.
The principal mechanism for translating that consent into governmental authority is the holding of free and fair elections.
Indeed, elections are the central institutions of democratic representative governments. And all modern democracies hold elections, but not all elections are democratic.
According to Jeane Kirkpatrick, scholar and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations: “Democratic elections are not merely symbolic …
“They are competitive, periodic, inclusive; definitive elections in which the chief decision-makers in a government are selected by citizens who enjoy broad freedom to criticize government, to publish criticisms and to present alternatives.”
Democracies thrive on openness and accountability, with one very important exception; the act of voting itself.
To cast a free ballot and minimise the opportunity for intimidation, voters in a democracy must be permitted to cast their ballot in secret.
At the same time, the protection of the ballot box and tallying of the vote totals must be conducted as openly as possible, so that citizens are confident that the results are accurate and that the government does, indeed, rest upon their “consent”.
The fact of the matter is that, the practice of Ghana’s democracy is riddled with a lot of ‘election issues’. From internal party elections to inter-party elections or national general elections; there are a whole lot of issues.
And it is compounded by our District Level Elections and election of Metropolitan/Municipal and District Chief Executives, after their nominations by the President of the Republic.
For instance, some political analysts say with certainty that during the ‘primaries’ to select or elect presidential and parliamentary candidates to represent their various political parties in general elections, a lot of “underhand dealings happen.”
According to the analysts, the contesting candidates in the primaries, “flood the election venues with ‘pure cash and all manner of goodies’ including television sets, motorcycles, bicycles, sewing machines, wax prints, food and drinks to ‘grease the palms’ of the electorates, so that they could influence them to vote for them.”
The analysts contend that,”this is an open secret in Ghana’s internal party contests,” stressing that, “this is replicated by the political parties, all the way to the national elections.”
And for the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Executives (MMDCEs), other political watchers also claim that “the unspoken rituals” are known and performed by some nominated MMDCEs and their acolytes, irrespective of whichever political regime in power since the 4th Republic.
And the “rituals” are said to be turning the whole “confirmation process” into ‘moneycracy’ thus, influencing ‘the small-small honourables’ to vote in a certain way to confirm some of the MMDCEs.
And even in Parliament, some political watchers say, “some opaque rituals” are performed by some persons nominated for ministerial appointments during the vetting process, adding that “all these are presumably done to enhance the chances of the approval of some of the ministerial nominees by the Appointments Committee”; even though such activity is indirectly related to elections.
Mr. Elvis Afriyie
Ankrah, NDC’s Director
of Elections
•Mr Kwabena
Mintah Akandoh
Again, some political watchers claim that when some institutions are “pushing” or “lobbying” for Bills to be drafted and passed by Parliament to enhance their performance, such institutions are said to sponsor hotel bills, meals and transportation costs of the parliamentary committees discussing such Bills, insisting that “such acts by such institutions, together with Parliament, fly in the face of good governance practice and democracy,” even though it has no direct linkage to elections.
It is in line with such arguments that some critics have taken the Juaboso Member of Parliament, Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, to the cleaners, about the statement he read on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, November 2, 2021.
Mr Akandoh’s statement on the floor of Parliament demanded action from the House over the way some of the approvals of MMDCEs had been carried out in the midst of allegations of vote-buying among others.
Mr Akandoh mentioned the Juaboso District where a Presiding Member is currently challenging the approval of the DCE nominee in court, alleging that his confirmation was conducted on the blindside of some Assembly Members.
Mr Akandoh urged Parliament to probe “questionable election” of some of the MMDCE nominees, adding that, “at the core of our democratic practice is elections.
“The plethora of locations where such horrible examples occurred, included Suaman, Bebiani Ahwiaso, Bekwai and Sekyere Kumawu.”
He said, “as Members of Parliament, we have through democratic processes emerged as voices for countless thousands.
“For this reason, we must raise our voices against such acts,” and urged Parliament to institute a probe into areas where such schemes were reported to have taken place and to propose measures to rectify them.
According to the critics, however, Mr Akandoh and his cohorts in Parliament ” are acting ‘hypocrisy’ and preaching and singing ‘honesty’ with melodies.”
The critics contend that Mr Akandoh and his like-minded friends in Parliament are very much aware of the many of the “underhand election processes ” in the country, especially the performance of “monetary rituals” to influence voters at all levels of elections.
Readers, Wikipedia defines hypocrisy, as the practice of claiming to have higher standards or noble beliefs than is the case.
Hypocrisy is typically caused by an inflated sense of ego and self-righteousness, coupled with an inability to be humble.
Synonyms for hypocrisy include insincerity, pretence, deceit, falsity, duplicity and phariseeism.
The critics say, for Mr Akandoh to single out the election of MMDCEs for mention and attention on the floor of Parliament, while ignoring other related and very disturbing ‘election schemings ‘ in the country, smacks of hypocrisy and dishonesty.
The critics are, therefore, urging Mr Akandoh and “his friends” in Parliament to be candid and courageous to “open all the cans of election-related worms ” on the floor of Parliament for thorough scrutiny and redress; instead of using the election of MMDCEs as “an escape route.”
Per the recommendations of the critics, “the ball must be kicked, back into the court” of Mr Akandoh and his cohorts in Parliament.
Contact email/ WhatsApp of the author:
asmahfrankg@gmail.com (0505556179)
By G Frank Asmah
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
