Is Boko Haram a threat to Ghana?

Is Boko Haram a threat to Ghana? The answer is a definite yes.  Boko Haram is a dangerous, ruthless, inhuman organisation.  It brain-washes its forced converts to believe that no crime is too low to achieve its purposes.

It is often described as an Islamist military group.  But there is nothing Islamist about it as we in Ghana know Islam.  We of other faiths have lived with Moslems for years and we regard them as Ghanaians who share our basic values.  And therein lies the danger.  We come to believe that we are different, if not superior.  

We may be telling ourselves that An inhuman organisation such as Boko Haram can only thrive in wild Nigeria.  It can never take root in the Ghana of sensible people.

We should guard against this complacency.  Boko Haram is reputed to have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State militants who ravage Iraq and Syria with mind-boggling atrocities.  We cannot have them here.  But they may be here already exploring, contacting potential proselytes and even recruiting warriors from a self-impoverished population.  Soon, we shall know that they are not only mainline Muslims and Ahmadiyya Muslims but also that there are Shias and Sunnis who are at each other’s throats.

We should not forget that Christians, Jews, Muslims and other religious sects have lived peacefully together in present day Iraq for hundreds of years.  It did not take a decade to turn many of the present inhabitants into the specimens of present brutal humanity.  We should take measures now to safeguard ourselves from this potential mayhem.  And how do we do this? Firstly, we should vigorously promote the rule of law and if we do this we would not create many disaffected groups of people to promote chaos.

Freedom under the law should be our guiding principle.  It should unite all Ghanaians.  When the law and its procedures are influenced by family, tribal, party, ethnic or religious considerations, divisive factional groups are created and the beast in man is unleashed.

Institutions should be strengthened and allowed to do their work.  The environmental organisations, for example, should be encouraged and not frustrated from doing their work.  Interference by higher authority may lead to religious tensions.  Noise is noise and loud calls to prayers by some Muslim units at 4 a.m. should be stopped as drumming, yelling and dancing by a few Christian groups at  midnight are firmly disallowed.  

Administration of the law, procedures and practices, in a partial manner can lead to frustration and the belief in not belonging.  Those, thus, alienated are easy prey to Boko Haram and similar sects.  More importantly, the education system should go beyond the acquisition of certificates.  It should strengthen belief in the values which hold society together.

At a time when public finances are under stress, we should beware of welcoming any organisation which enters the country with money for religious or cultural promotion or sends money especially for educational purposes.  The Inspectorate Division of Education should assist with a firm control of the implantation of alien divisive practices or cultures.  

It should help to ensure that foreign organisations do not bring in money to build fine schools to propagate practices which alienate the young from societal norms and thereby divide the nation.  The appropriate organisations should ensure that vigilance extends to the churches.  This is difficult in an age of freedom of belief and worship.  But the state cannot shun its duty.  The weak in resolve should not aspire to be leaders of state.  Our leaders should stand firm against the impartation of alien practices which enslave the mind.

When I was Secretary for Education and Culture, the Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) , Flt Lt Rawlings, asked me to bring a draft to ensure that certain bad practices were stopped in some churches.  This was after a meeting which discussed certain unbelievable practices in Kenya and Ghana- church members drinking the urine of pastors or sleeping with them for salvation or to have children!

I was incensed and started to work immediately.  But each morning I read over what I had drafted the night before, I found that what I had put down was not good enough.  It did not fully safeguard the independence and rights of the churches in a free society.  I, therefore, tried again.  Soon, Chairman Rawlings naturally got fed up with me and asked the bright young ones to produce a paper.  A law was subsequently passed and the churches rose up against it.  That was the end of putting a stop to the excesses of some church leaders.  The practice, however, exists in many forms as Paul Ansah’s film shows.

What can we do about the menace of control of minds against the public good? Our main defence against Boko Haram and the like is to ensure that our people, especially the youth, share and believe in our way of life.  Life should be meaningful and work should be available.  The state should perform its duty and should not find untenable refuge in asking and expecting school and university leavers to create their own jobs.  

If we the elders are truthful, not corrupt, sincere and respect and practise true and lasting values, the youth will follow us.  Otherwise, they will find solace and fulfilment in organisations such as Boko Haram.