Anybody who has lived in Ghana for any remarkable amount of time or has studiously followed events on the ground since President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo assumed the democratic reins of governance of the Sovereign Democratic Republic of Ghana, can fully and convincingly testify to the fact that all is not hunky-dory or well and perfect or kosher with the country. This clearly explains why when Pastor Isaac Owusu-Bempah “predicts” that retaining power past December 2024 or January 7, 2025, may not be a fait accompli for the operatives of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), while at the same time the Founding-Leader of the Glorious Word Ministries warns the leaders of the country’s main opposition National Democratic Congress not to automatically assume that they will be ceded the democratic reins of governance, by hook or crook, come Election 2024, you can be certain that his words are not being taken lightly by either political divide or camps (See “Blow for NPP as Rev. Owusu-Bempah Releases Latest Prophecy on 2024 Elections” Ghanaweb.com 1/16/22).
His are not necessarily “prophecies” the way he would have his congregants and the general Ghanaian public perceive the same to be; they are purely logical or savvy prognosis/prognoses squarely predicated on political realities on the ground, as it were. He has veered this way before, when he scandalously “prophesied” that the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Sharubutu, would be invited to dinner by Allah/God in the year just past, that is, 2021. For those of our readers who may not know the age of Sheikh Sharubutu, the nationally revered Muslim Leader is a centenarian who is fast closing in on 102 years old, if he is not already closely inching towards 103 years old.
Now, we claim not to know the putatively “inscrutable” ways of Divine Providence or God/Allah, our profound apologies to Kwame Gonja, as the democratically ousted former President John “European Airbus Payola” Dramani Mahama is also popularly known, but how did it come about that if God/Allah wanted any Ghanaian religious leader to “prophesy” the death of Sheikh Osman Sharubutu, he had not chosen any one of the dozens of Islamic religious leaders in the country but rather a man who knew a diddly little about Islamic Theology and the special bond that practicing Muslims have forged with Allah or their Maker via a religious system that far precedes the emergence of Christianity in West African Subregion by centuries to do so?
Does it therefore surprise any of us, bona fide Ghanaian citizens, that the supposed or purported “prophesy” by Pastor Owusu-Bempah, vis-à-vis the passing of Sheikh Osman Sharubutu turned out to be sheer hogwash? Their followers may not like to hear this, but a sizeable number and percentage of these one-man/one-person church leaders may very well be clinically afflicted with acute bouts of dementia, the magnitude of which may very well require prompt or immediate medical attention. What I also want to add here is that in view of the natural and logical fact that dozens of prominent Ghanaian citizens among the comity of the global community of humans transitioned into eternity over the past year, none of these “prophets” were able to tell us, for example, that Storytelling King of Highlife or Maestro, Daasebre Nana Kwame Ampadu, I, was well on his way out from among our midst?
Which gives us great pleasure and even happiness that, for the most part, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo-Dampare, was able to successfully rein the sort of “prophetic madness” that seems to have taken Ghana’s Fourth-Republican Dispensation virtually hostage. I knew that there was always a leader among our fold who was capable of bringing such “Religious Reign-of-Terror” in check or effectively under control. Which must also bring up the critical question of “When did Ghana’s Fourth-Republican Constitution mandate the criminal usurpation of our secular political system by one-person church leaders?” This state of pathological bedlam or “religious madness” obviously emanates from the equally pathological emergence of a generation of narcissistic politicians who think that the collective destiny of Global Ghanaian Citizenry is all about these egocentric and megalomaniacal politicians.
Now, as to the fact of how and why Yahweh, the Judeo-Christian God, deserted King Saul of Israel, we learned all about this decades ago in high school. Saul violated divine edict not to spare any humans or livestock among the thoroughly defeated Amalekites. So, maybe the latter Sauline abomination could be likened to the patently inadvisable decision of a newly elected President Akufo-Addo not to opportunely bring down the levers of judicial justice squarely upon the pates of those National Democratic Congress’ executive appointees who criminally and illegally drew home double salaries over the course of some four protracted years at the expense of hardworking and overly taxed Ghanaian citizens and civil servants, and public servants as well.
It was strikingly akin to the morbid venality of the morally recalcitrant sons of the Priest and Prophet Eli, who routinely took undue advantage of society’s most vulnerable and impoverished. Which, once again, may also partly explain why Pastor Owusu-Bempah would admonish the leadership of a power-hungry National Democratic Congress not to automatically assume that the apparent Divine Disfavor of the leadership of the ruling New Patriotic Party necessarily translates into or imply the transference of democratic power into the corruption-infected and diseased hands of the leadership of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress. Just a commonsense prediction in favor of the “prophetically” disfavored who, truth be told, warts and all, are still ages ahead of the kleptocratic and politically nihilistic and morally benighted operatives of the ironically named National Democratic Congress.
*Visit my blog at: KwameOkoampaAhoofeJr
By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD
English Department, SUNY-Nassau
Garden City, New York
January 17, 2022
