Features
It’s time govt officials got serious …and stopped that ‘loose’ and ‘reckless’ talks!
The term “loose talk” is used to describe talk or a statement that is made carelessly or recklessly without the speaker thinking of the ramifications of his or her statements. By definition, “loose talk” means inhibited and indiscreet talk or conversation, especially as might unintentionally lead to revealing private or sensitive information to others. Simply put, a loose talk has the potential or likelihood of offending or causing harm in the future,
LOOSE TALKS COST LIVES
History tells us that there is a popular phrase about loose talk which says, “Loose talk costs lives”. That phrase, we are told, came into being during the Second World War and now many decades after that, this phrase has been used extensively in movies, books and songs all over the world.
The reason loose talk costs lives is that one must not be reckless or careless with what he or she says because it can lead to unpalatable events that might end up claiming the lives of innocent people. Several instances of loose talks and their ramifications have been cited and for the handsight of this article and the benefit of my readers, I will like to mention two of them to keep them abreast of the dangers involved.
EXAMPLES OF WHAT LOOSE TALKS CAN DO TO SOCIETY
Let’s say a prominent politician mounts a podium and starts saying negative things and castigating a particular religion. In the politician’s loose talk, he totally condemns the religion much to the fury or anger of the millions of followers of that particular religion. This I believe, can lead to a chaotic situation that can claim a number of lives around the world. Another example of loose talk is an instance in which a country’s Defence Minister, goes on air and starts talking about the very sensitive issues about his country which are not supposed to be disclosed and heard by the public because it can greatly harm the security of his country.
I have taken my time to dwell into the issue of loose talk and the emerging consequences involved because of the recent pronouncement by the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah, about the fact that the toll booths which have been abandoned across the country because of the abolishment of road toll collection would be used to serve another public purpose.
ROAD MINISTER’S LOOSE STATEMENT
According to the minister, these toll booths are to be converted into public urinals. To quote him, “We even want to refurbish all the toll booth structures to provide proper and decent washrooms for the use by motorists so that we can advise them to desist from that practice where sometimes you see cars stopping on the highways and people getting down to ‘wee wee’ as we usually see”.
It is recalled that the government in its 2022 Budget and Financial Policy Statement, announced the removal and scrapping of toll collections across the country. A directive from the sector minister caused the cessation of tolls even before the budget was approved by Parliament, an act which many described as unlawful. These toll booths, since the abolishment, have been abandoned and that had raised concerns in many quarters with the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), urging the government to demolish the structures for the sake of road safety. But it appears that the government has different plans for the abandoned structures.
For goodness sake, does it make sense to construct urinals at the middle of express roads for motorists to stop and ease themselves and what kind of purpose will such facilities serve to the Ghanaian public? It appears that Ghanaians are being taken for granted by some of our ministers and other public officials and that is most unfortunate.
MINISTER’S DENIAL IN PARLIAMENT
Recently, the Roads and Highways Minister was in Parliament denying that he had said the toll booths were to refurbished and converted into places of urinal and that he said many things and was quoted out of context by the media. His utterances in parliament sounded awkward and unfounded because his voice was recorded on tape and had been played many times by some radio and television stations in the country. The best thing to do by the minister is to accept his guilt and apologise strongly to the media and Ghanaians in general.
THE E-LEVY AND NEGATIVE UTTERANCES
There is another loose talk statement currently circulating on social media and attributed to the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, aka Joe Wise, alleging that “if Ghanaians do not support the introduction of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy), the various road construction work going on in the country will be stopped by the government.” This has generated a lot of fury or anger from a section of the public castigating and raising insults at him and the government. There are many instances of some of these loose and reckless statements and utterances from senior public officials including ministers of state, parliamentarians and people in positions of trust in the country, which space will not allow me to focus on.
GHANAIANS AGGITATED BY THESE LOOSE AND RECKLESS TALKS
Ghanaians are in fact tired and being agitated by some of these loose and reckless talks and utterances by high profile personalities at the helms of affairs in this country and they better watch out. These people should not feel and think that the people are ignorant and naïve and, therefore, they can pour all kinds of venom through their unguarded, irresponsible and reckless statements on them and run away. The people are wide awake and alert and whatever loose talks or negative things they say will be duly interrogated and used against them in future. They should not forget that first and foremost, they are politicians and, therefore, must know how to talk and communicate well with the people in whose hands power lies. If they don’t know, printed materials are difficult to erase once they are noted and can be easily revisited at the least opportunity and at any given time.
POLITICIANS MUST RESPECT THE PEOPLE
For goodness sake, people placed in positions of trust must learn to exhibit high level of professionalism and to respect the offices they occupy as well as Ghanaians whose mandates have placed them where they are at the moment. First and foremost, they must learn to control their impulses, think before they speak and above all work on their self-esteem. They have been chosen out of the lot to serve the interest of this country and the people in general but not for any selfish motives. They should not think that once they have been given the power to lead us, then we become stooges to them and, therefore, they can insult and pour all kinds of negativities on us and go scot free. When the need arises for Ghanaians to speak out, they will use the same power of the thumb to express their anger and throw them out of office.
This is the time for our politicians to demonstrate human feeling and show high level of respect to the electorate but not to turn their backs on them through some of these loose and reckless utterances that serve no useful purpose, otherwise they will regret their negative actions. They must accord the media the necessary respect at all times and watch their tongues when they mount platforms to talk. In the same vein, the media must also show professionalism in their work and do their work factually and diligently without fear or favour from any quarters in order to earn that crucial respect from the public.
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By Charles Neequaye
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
