So help me, God!

Of all the solemn statements contained in the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Oaths of Office, the most sacred, to me, are the words of the last line, “So help me, God!”  

For, a cry for help directed to the Almighty God, no matter the circumstance, is the best and most urgent of all prayers. 

Asking God for help to combat any challenge acknowledges our limitations and recognises the truth that only he can offer us real and lasting help.

Oaths of Office

The daunting content of the two oaths, which the president and his vice firmly swore pertaining to their high offices, underscores the reason for the cry for divine help—

“I . . . in the name of the Almighty God swear that . . . I will be faithful and true to the Republic of Ghana; that I will at all times preserve, protect and defend the Constitution . . .  and that I dedicate myself to the service and well-being of the people . . .  and to do right to all manner of persons . . .”

As I listened to the oaths, I clearly understood why it ended with the cry, “So help me God!” No human being should be making vows like that without asking for God’s help to fulfil them unless they don’t intend to keep them.

And a president or his vice who doesn’t intend to keep their oaths should remember the gravity of the conclusion—

“. . . I further solemnly swear that should I, at any time, break this oath of office, I shall submit myself to the laws of the Republic of Ghana and suffer the penalty for it . . .”

Many young people in Ghana today who were born in and around the Fourth Republic may not understand the full import of the phrase, “. . . and suffer the penalty for it.”

That “penalty” transcends being voted out of power. In the past, for breaking their oaths of office, many occupants of the nation’s high offices were made to suffer that penalty with their lives.

Therefore, as I watched and listened to the president’s inaugural speech, I couldn’t help but re-echo and paraphrase the last line of the oaths: “Oh Lord, we truly need you; so help us, God!”

Pomp, pageantry

The inauguration that ushered the president and his vice to their respective offices on January 7 was, without doubt, pomp and pageantry. We all felt proud—as if Ghana had won a World Cup tournament.

But, beneath the spectacle lay expectations and a huge burden, not only on the president and his vice but on all of us.  In fact, the president captured this in his down-to-earth and delightful speech.

He said, for example, that, “Democracy is not just a token adorned with periodic elections followed by pomp and pageantry when a new government is established. If democracy is celebrated as a superior means of governance, its outcomes must be more tangible and benefit individual lives.”

In other words, outcomes of our never-ending politics must be “tangible” and “beneficial” to us individually and collectively.  Tangible, so we can see and touch them; beneficial, so we can access their usefulness.

Yet, we know how the quest for those tangible benefits in human, social and economic developments eludes us despite our constant change of governments. Therefore, oh God, help us!  

Divine help

The task of nation-building is so complex and frightening that we always need divine help.

At the inauguration, this cry for help didn’t only come from the Oaths of Office. The president began his address with, “Our Father who art in heaven, thank you for giving me this day—a day that offers me, your humble servant, a unique opportunity to reset Ghana.”

That posture of humility, devoid of haughtiness and a superiority complex, is what is expected of all leaders, especially if they remember that they are human and prone to failure.

It is precisely because of human weakness that we need divine intervention in our affairs. As the future is unknown, “when—not if—” another pandemic breaks loose upon us, we will need divine mediation even when health facilities are in place.

Those who undermine such divine interventions must understand that there are devastating hazards of overwhelming proportions that only God can deliver us from.

For “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). This scripture has been the source of strength for many in troubling situations.

Perhaps Don Moen’s song may also inspire us: God will make a way / Where there seems to be no way / He works in ways we cannot see / He will make a way for me.

May God help us navigate the complex journey of governance and social life. 

Our own oaths (plans, actions, attitudes and behaviours) must be supported with the cry, “So help me, God!”

The writer is a publisher, author, writer-trainer and CEO of Step Publishers.
E-mail: lawrence.darmani@gmail.com