If God says you’ll lose 2016 election…
Am I the only one who is reading desperation in the eyes of our politicians in the run-up to this year’s election? I came away from a chat last Sunday in the newsroom of the Daily Graphic convinced (almost) by the paper’s Political Editor and News Editor, that I had a problem: that I was trying too hard to pry open the eyes of a corpse, and that with this mindset, I will certainly see a ghost.
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They were joined by the Editor to assure me that things are no different this year from any other election years since 1992.
So what is this I hear about consultations with prophets and mallams and jujumen? The “political cocoa season” is in full bloom already, and I am told that in those consultation rooms and shrines, cheques are not legal tender: it has to be physical cash, bundles of them in Ideal Milk cartons and ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags.
I am a Christian, so I can talk about the Christian prophet. At best, the Christian prophet can only tell the mind of God concerning the future: he/she can do nothing to change that future. The true Christian prophet can predict the outcome of elections but cannot manipulate the outcome. He/she can do nothing to cause you to win the election if God says you will lose.
Don’t tell me that T.B. Joshua helped Ghana’s Professor Atta Mills to win. He didn’t. The prophet only correctly prophesied to Atta Mills that he would win. Indeed, he even went further to prophesy (“Thus sayeth the Lord”) that the victory would not be in 2008, in the first ballot or in the second - but after a third ballot, in 2009.
I repeat: if you are a desperate politician dying to know your fate, you may go to see the most powerful prophet or Mallam or jujuman. The worst they can do is to kill or maim your opponents. But I can assure you, if God says no, nothing and no one can put you in the Flagstaff House or Parliament. Not even the death or elimination of your rival can put you into power.
So relax. Just go on campaigning. Don’t try the satanic strategy of eliminating or pulling down your opponent. If you destroy, you will be destroyed.
Are you a Presidential or Parliamentary candidate? Don’t be deceived by the cleverness of your near-perfect evil plot that looks fool-proof in your own eyes. God can frustrate the cleverest schemes. In the final analysis, God will prove that the final outcome “is not of him (human being) that willeth or him that runneth, but of Him (God) that showeth mercy”.
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NPP Ashanti chair’s arrest good for democracy
One of the good things to happen to Ghana’s democracy since 1992 was the arrest and hauling before court of the New Patriotic Party’s chairman in the Ashanti Region.
Even greater is the fact that he was granted bail after the judge heard from both the prosecution and lawyers for the accused. This is the norm in a democracy. It is rule of the Law.
But Ghana missed the biggest chance to celebrate a final victory for democracy. That would have been a quiet meeting by the NPP’s leadership with its supporters explaining that the regional party chairman was arrested because he committed a crime; that Ghana is a democracy where nobody is above the law; and that we cannot exist in a society where somebody cannot be “touched”.
One of the enemies of democracy is impunity, and impunity is allowing anybody to get a feeling that he/she can do or say anything and get away with it. Do we know how many more people, including those demonstrating, could also be slapped around in the future if the law does not compel this man to control what comes off his chest?
Over and above all these considerations is the fate of the NPP itself. Don’t they care that there is an election only a few months away and that there is a huge proportion of Ghanaian voters who have not made up their minds concerning whom to vote for? They are called the floating voters and their numbers are significant in this country.
This group of uncommitted voters would be more impressed if the party is seen distancing itself from acts of violent-minded members. The NPP and Nana Akufo Addo would win more favourability in the eyes of “right-thinking persons” if the party comes out to condemn such acts. It assures everybody that we are about to entrust our fate into the hands of a leader who abhors impunity.
The detained regional chairman was released to a shower of talcum powder. Victory? Over whom? Democracy is not an exercise in chaos. As Professor Frimpong Boateng always says, “Democracy is not ‘ka bi ma menka bi’; democracy is rule of the law”.
To the NPP, I have a piece of advice. There is something to be said for making oneself attractive. Even the rooster knows it: that is why it spreads its wings and dances in circles in the presence of the hen.