We’ll welcome proposal for law on ‘prophets’ — Speaker

The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, has indicated that Parliament will welcome proposals to enact a law that will regulate the operations of doom mongers operating as prophets before their activities plunge the country into chaos.

He said that had become necessary due to the penchant for some ‘men of God’ to come up with prophetic messages about people and the country which tended to put the nation on edge.

“We don’t want to rise one day and see that because of some ‘prophetic’ statement, our country is in flames. In view of what we have all seen and heard about these statements of doom which thrive on people’s emotions and sentiments, we need to enact laws as soon as possible,” Prof. Oquaye said at the celebration of International Day of Peace in Accra last Friday.

Annual prophecies

In Ghana in the last few years, New Year’s Eve church services have become platforms for some pastors to deliver what they say are visions from God, dominated mostly by prophecies on the death of prominent personalities, including the sitting President, former Presidents, former First Ladies, religious leaders, musicians and media personalities.

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While a section of the public is against the practice, describing it as causing fear and panic, followers of some of the pastors and the pastors themselves see nothing wrong with the practice, claiming it is a directive from God. 

But Prof. Oquaye, who is himself a Minister of the Gospel, said the practice had the tendency to disturb the country’s peace.

Directive

In June this year, the Speaker of Parliament directed a Joint Committee of Youth, Sports and Culture and Legal Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs to investigate the possibility of regulating churches and other religious groups in the country.

He gave the joint committee a month to finish its work and submit a report to the House.

He cautioned against the pretence that everything was fine in the religious sector because people could not be allowed to operate outside the parameters of the Constitution.

The report is yet to be made public, but the Speaker said Parliament was interested in working with the National Peace Council and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for legislation to curb doom prophecies and electoral violence that threatened Ghana’s peace.

Electoral violence

Prof. Oquaye also expressed concern over election-related violence that compelled some people to leave the country during elections, while others hoarded food or fasted for peaceful elections.

 “Every four years, you see people reaching out for their passports and some leaving the country. There are certain persons who have never lived in Ghana during elections. They spend the election years abroad; they fear violence. Some of us hoard gari and sardines to eat during elections because of fear.

“We see some women fasting so that God will spare us. God has spared us for so long. We must do what is right, so that God does not punish us for good reason. It means we must examine ourselves and regulate our activities,” he said.

In that regard, he said Parliament was studying the Electoral Offences Act of Kenya which was enacted after the country was plunged into chaos after the 2007 elections.

“These are matters we are examining and we want you to partner us to bring good practices to bear. We need one good law which, apart from the vigilante one, will take care of all the mischief, misdeeds and those things that encourage electoral violence,” he added.

He urged Ghanaians to be law abiding and respectful, as the application of the law was “a manifestation of civilisation. Without law, we will go back to the state of nature, described as nasty, harsh, brutish and short”.