THE SUDDEN SILENCE OF THE CLERGY, THE NEUTRALS, RESOURCE PERSONS – SIGN OF REGRET, DISAPPOINTMENT, OR STRATEGIC MOVE?

In one of my articles captioned “THE HOOD DOES NOT MAKE THE MONK JUST AS THE WIG DOES NOT MAKE THE LAWYER”, I stated that not everybody who had gone to school succeeded in acquiring education. Some went there purposely to acquire certificate and ability to speak some high sounding grammar which are mostly sophisticated and complex to comprehend. To be an intellectual, you must proof that you have a highly developed intellect. You must show this proof from your contribution towards curing some of your societal ills. The same phenomenon applies to our pastors, especially, those who acquired their skill from our theological institutions and summinaries. The big question is, is the so called intelligentsia community, our pastors etc here a part of our problem or solution.

Considering the role these so called intellectuals played during the last general election and the very shameful role they have continued to play even in the face of full blown tyranny and state sponsored harassment of political opponents coupled with the unprecedented abysmal performance we are witnessing under a President they sold to Ghanaians, I’m reasonably convinced that they are a major part of our problem in this noble country. Those intellectuals present themselves to the public as neutrals while doing bindings of their preferred political parties are a disgrace to the very term intellectualism. In the 2016 election, there were more than two candidates contesting for the office of the President but because these so called neutrals and their friends in the pastoral business also suffer from the same binary thinking syndrome like most hawks in our body politic, they believed their own lies that the candidates were just two. And they threw their weight behind Nana Akufo-Addo.

This was what my own Rev.Dr Mensah Otabil said-
“I hope that as we celebrate this story, and I like how it was put earlier that it’s a revolution and it’s really a revolution. We have to battle, we have to fight, we have to wrest the destiny of our nation from incompetence and from people, who have determined to run us to the ground.

“We have to wrest the nation back and control it as citizens of this country and that is the challenge I want to put to you. You have to dare to dream to take our nation back…”. He is one pastor I admire and respect so much and an ardent listener of his sermons on Radio. On twitter, he inspires me a lot through our chats. This was what my man said before the 2016 election. We heard Rev . Prof Martey, Rev Osei Bonsu. The interesting point is, when President Mahama attended Aburi Girl’s Anniversary just before the 2016 election, Prof Martey, openly praised him for his humility and assured him of his constant prayers for him to succeed. We heard the insults Rev Bonsu rained on Mr Mahama over the Gitmo 2 issue. The former President never reacted to these attacks rather, he advised his communicators including myself never to write anything derogatory about these noble personalities.

You see, a hypocrite is an actor. He practices the opposite of what he preaches and his outward appearance does not match his inward condition. We all have varying degrees of hypocrisy in us. This sin of hypocrisy is particularly a problem for leaders, for politicians, judges, pastors and even parents. In Roman 2: 19-29, Paul destroys the false confidence of the Jews by exposing their hypocrisy. Jesus did the same, telling his disciplines, you must obey the teacher of the law and Pharisees who sit in the seat of Moses, and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. The entire chapter of Matthew 23 is an exposee and denunciation of the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders. For Example, Jesus exclaims, woe to you,teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness (Matthew 23:27-28). The situation is the same today in our country relative to our pastors and our politics. Decades ago, the principle was that the church must not meddle in partisan politics. The church must not tell people whom or what party to vote for. The reason for this was that the mission of the church is supernatural, its objective is to lead the persons to Christ. For that same reason, the church also does not have the right to impose its own ecclesiastical laws on the rest of society. Personally, I have few issues with this old orthodoxies with regard to the church’s role in our contemporary politics. That position is extended to Islam and other recognised religions. My position is that, there is no compelling reason to silence our religious organisations prominent voices in the country on public matters. The religious bodies should remain as that strong mouthpiece in order to maintain the delicate balance between religion and public morality. Democracy cannot thrive without a real opposition. A liberal state must not discourage religious persons and communities from also expressing themselves politically. And the religious organisations cannot be excluded in the public debate on many contentious issues that besiege the country today. Basic constitutional guarantees alone, of course, cannot preserve the public sphere and civil society from deformation. The communication structures of the Ghanaian public sphere must rather be kept intact by an energetic civil society. But do you really think our men of God, the neutrals etc are carrying out their duties in accordance with these noble principles.

Under the Mahama administration, some of these political pastors, neutrals, resource persons and their allies in the media made us believe that fuel price increase, nepotism, corruption, impunity, big size government etc were signs of incompetence and ineptitude but today, these persons no longer blame President Akufo-Addo for the massive corruption in his administration, the unprecedented nepotism, the unprecedented large government, vigilantism and political persecution, economic hardship and impunity. How can a people with this worrisome degree of sycophancy and blind partisanship still claim to be the think tank and conscience of the society?. Before the 2016 election, these neutrals and their religious friends were trying to cause earthquake here with their high sounding grammar and religious ethos in protest over what they described as misdeeds of Mahama but today, our men from the “East” now visit the Jubilee House the man a man with a running stomach visits the rest room. All those clear cases of tyranny, nepotism, corruption and criminal ineptitude and we haven’t heard any grammar from these men. Some have taken political appointment.

It is becoming increasingly difficult shielding this administration from public attack. Ghanaians have began feeling the heat, Ghanaians are witnessing the wanton dissipation of our resources, Ghanaians are seeing the family and friends political appointments, Ghanaians have seen the strength and tricks of the President (the ability to convince the vulnerable with sweet words), Ghanaians are hearing the corruption in the administration and all the nefarious activities. Government is spending millions of cedis on some selected media houses and journalists to help work the instincts of the masses..but that assignment is too difficult to accomplish because of the magnitude of these activities. Most of the pastors and so called neutrals who breathed on the neck of the former President, have suddenly gone quiet. The kind of criminal activities they witnessing under this administration, the sharp drop in goodwill and the ears splitting cry by Ghanaians over hardship and corruption have kept them in their own webs. The moral courage to defend the administration is not there. The few with conscience, have learnt good lessons from this huge disappointment.

Those who chastised Mahama over what that fake nepotism allegation, should hold their Bible or Quran and start counting the number close family members of the President in his administration and compare that to what we saw under Mahama. They think the 998 Presidential staffers is the best alternative Ghanaians needed, the use of Vigilante groups to terrorise innocent citizens is what they promised us, issuing of bond without following laid down procedure is what we prayed for, entering into negotiations with nations to establish military bases was what we fasted for, allowing the land to be used as conduit for the propagation of homosexual practice on the continent was what we prayed to God for, market women consulting other gods to support their dying businesses was what we went on our knees for? The time to speak is now. Let’s quit sugarcoating the truth here, a man of God claims, God has spoken to him that Mahama can never become President of the Republic again. And the political jobbers will feed on this useless prophesy and work around it. God, the most high., God, who provides our needs and give us what he knows suits our situation, thinks the President who provided his people with

-hospitals..from Districts to Regions. Made deductions from salaries of his appointees to build chip compounds

-Built roads to reduce accidents and save the poor commercial driver from frequent purchase of spare parts

-Built Midwifery school to train more midwives

-solved our decades old power problem

-gave us Atuabo gas

-Provided potable water across the country

– took our children from under trees into ultramodern classrooms

-built more secondary schools

-Renovated and expanded our ports etc etc ,

Can never lead Ghana again but rather, will support the one who has borrowed $42 billion with a year with nothing to show

– one who made himself a God..you pay money before you share same table with him

– clear his corrupt officials

– appoint 110 ministers and 998 Presidential staffers

– warn aspirants not to contest his preferred candidates

– Pay $30 million to a cousin to review government contracts

-appoint close to 60 family members into his administration

-supervising wanton corruption etc

That is the thinking of a man of God and wickedly pushing it down the throat of the vulnerable as coming from God.