Food For Thought For Self-Righteous Ghanaian Pastors?

Author's note:



This was written on 20/11/2012. It is being posted today because I was unable to do so on the day. It subsequently appeared on  Vibeghana.com and Ghanaweb.com. Please read on:


Listening to a  pastor issuing veiled threats on an Accra FM radio station yesterday,  implying that Christian pastors in Ghana  would use the numbers making  up their congregations against a political party -  some of whose extremist  members' campaign activities  had incurred the wrath  of Pastor Otabil -  on election day, an old wag I know,  expressed his disappointment at the turn of events.


By definition, pastors ought to be infinitely wise, open-minded and  forgiving. Pastor Mensah Otabil, a very wise man,  obviously meant  it when he said he had left the matter in God's hands.


And what better hands to leave punishment for the machinations of one's detractors,  than those of God Almighty, I ask?


In the view of the old wag,  it is most   unfortunate that some  pastors have now  apparently forgotten that President Mills came to power after the December 2008 presidential election, precisely because a majority of the Ghanaian electorate had become fed up with the unfathomable greed and amoral behaviour of some of the leading lights of the then ruling regime,   led by Mills' predecessor as president.


He wondered if those indignant pastors  ever passed  judgement on any of those whose "insensitivity and unparalleled selfishness,  created a dog-eat-dog society in our country, in which a few hundred politically well-connected individuals,    exploited the national economy for private gain, at the expense of the rest of the Ghanaian populace:  in the halcyon days of the golden-age-of-business-for-a-

privileged-few,  from January 2001 to January 2009"?


One can only hope, dear reader,  that in this matter,  God will touch the hearts of some of those pastors in Ghana, who focus exclusively on materialism, instead of helping members of their congregations' to build good characters.


If they did that perhaps ours  would become the sort of moral society,  free of corruption,  and in which  extremist   politicians   whose campaign tactics is underpinned by   Goebbels-style sophistry, would think twice before embarking on the sort of activities that raised the ire of Pastor Mensah Otabil, for fear of attracting public opprobrium.


Rather than demonising whole political parties,  as punishment for the transgression of their more extremist members,  pastors in Ghana must be more even-handed and less judgemental,  when commenting on national affairs.


Pastors  must never forget that ordinary Ghanaians will not experience a period of rule by saints, whichever political party wins power after the December 2012 elections.


And lest they forget, pastors in Ghana must also remember that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is as full of selfish and amoral self-seekers lurking in the shadows, as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is.


Above all, after the elections,  a moral society will not emerge in Ghana - one in which God-fearing pastors focus on character-building, instead of encouraging unbridled  avarice -   with  endless sermons that encourage crass materialism dressed up as heavenly  blessings.


Regardless of which of the two biggest political  parties in Ghana wins power after the December elections,  it is inevitable that we will continue to have an opaque system riddled with high-level corruption,  in which the self-interest of a powerful few with greedy ambitions,   determine  our nation's destiny.


Alas, that is the reality of our times - and as the  old wag I know pondered: "Kofi, food for thought for self-righteous Ghanaian pastors,  perhaps?" A word to the wise...


Tel: 027 745 3109.


Email: peakofi.thompson@gmail.com