National Day of Prayer: The Most High rules in the affairs of men
On April 25, 2025, President John Dramani Mahama fulfilled his intention of commemorating Ghana's Republic Day, July 1, as a day of National Prayer and Thanksgiving.
A press statement issued to that effect said the decision was in fulfilment of a campaign promise.
We recall that former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made July 1 a commemorative observance of the country's Republican status gained in 1960, replacing it with August 4, which was christened Founders Day, in honour of the founders of Ghana.
The change was met with mixed reactions. While some Ghanaians welcomed the idea, others expressed their misgivings.
July 1, Republic Day, is significant in the country's history.
Independence on March 6, 1957, the country still held the status as a British colony and Queen Elizabeth II retained her role as the ceremonial head of state.
The growing desire for complete and total independence led to a referendum in April 1960.
The result was the country being declared a Republic on July 1, 1960; the end of the Queen's rule and Kwame Nkrumah becoming the first President of Ghana.
July 1 also marks Senior Citizens Day in Ghana.
It is, therefore, fitting for Ghana to commemorate July 1 as the day of its complete severance from all vestiges of colonial ties.
More appropriately, it is great that President Mahama has dedicated the day as one of Prayer and National Thanksgiving.
The 2021 Population and Housing Census conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) states that Christians constitute 71.3 per cent of the population, while Muslims make up 19.9 per cent.
Thus, the first National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, had a good representation of all the various sects of the major religions in Ghana.
For the Daily Graphic, the commemoration of the National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving, on the theme: "Reflect, Reset and Renew for National Prosperity," must not merely be one of participation in a national social gathering.
Ghanaians must genuinely reflect and seek the face of God through prayer by repentance.
Let us reflect and repent of indiscipline.
If by our leader, President John Dramani Mahama, we have dedicated July 1 as a day of prayer, then it means we recognise God and his involvement in our affairs (Daniel 4:32 B – the
Most High rules in the kingdom of men).
Let us then live as Ghanaians, like living unto God, not as living at the behest of a fellow Ghanaian (so that we get irritated at doing good and join the bandwagon of bad behaviours).
Therefore, the indiscriminate dumping of refuse, driving carelessly, tardiness and laziness in our work as public and civil servants, discrimination towards others who are not of our tribe, partisanship in nation-building and development, and all other social vices, must cease.
Principally, let us reflect and repent of greed and the overriding desire for wealth and material things.
That has led the country on the pathway of the wanton destruction of the environment that supports life, that is, the destruction of rivers and forests through galamsey.
Let us reset by substituting that with genuine hard work and patience for growth, with discipline in all things.
These are some of the values for a reset for prosperity.
With the renewal found, let us be continually thankful to God for his mercies upon Ghana.
As President John Mahama said during the service, Ghanaians must be responsible as citizens and hold their leaders accountable, while thanksgiving "must be an enduring tradition among citizens."
The Daily Graphic applauds the government for the National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving.
The paper has observed that adherents of the African Traditional Religion (3.2 per cent of the population) were not happy because they were neither consulted nor included in the celebration.
We believe that, although a major group, a national day like what has been instituted would have been a very long service indeed, if all groups had been included in the service.
We note that Muslims had their separate service in their appropriate place of worship, that is, the mosque.
The Daily Graphic is of the view that not being included in the national thanksgiving service does not preclude other religious sects from holding their respective services in their various places of worship.
After all, the real measure is not the service, but our hearts of prayer and thanksgiving to God.
We are hopeful that next year's National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving will be commemorated, with citizens having really changed from all voices that are destructive to our cherished homeland, Ghana.
