Reading the story on the fake prophet who prophesied Ghana’s win over Portugal, and his posthumous explanation of why it did not come to pass just brought to the forefront of my mind one of the biggest problems with Ghana, over reliance on religion.
It runs through everything we do and at all levels of society, from the poorest man fighting for his daily bread, to the President himself in the bowels of the Flag staff House.
This phenomena is mostly embodied by the Akan phrase ‘Fama Nyame’, which entreats an aggrieved one to leave recourse to God, waiting for the Almighty to stay his hands from the heavens and do the work the person should be doing for himself.
When you listen to interviews of prominent people around this country what do you hear most, that everything is in the hands of God. The President does it, his ministers do it, the coach of the national team does it; all these people often entreat the grace of God numerous times when dealing with a crisis. The thing is, these people have not acted to the best of their ability, so calling on God to come down and wave his magic wand is not likely to do much good.
Kwesi Appiah did not do his best in Brazil, and the President is not doing his best. I know this because of the state the country is in; or maybe this is his best, in which case Ghanaians are doomed for the foreseeable future.
The Bible itself says heaven helps those who help themselves, and the sad truth is we do not help ourselves in this country. I remember during one of our earlier energy crises, pastors were assembled to entreat God for rain to fill the Akosombo dam. Yet the country had over relied on this one hydro electric dam for eons since independence, with no plans to expand capacity as the population grew, yet in times of trouble we call for rain from God, as if that would be the end of all the problems associated with that crisis.
The Black Stars just returned from Brazil with epic failure, yet not one person has been held accountable. Instead we have to listen to the babble of false men of God like the mentioned above, and sadly there are people who would buy his explanation, and continue to place faith in him and men of his ilk as they lead them astray.
Hard work, commitment, dedication, and accountability are the way forward, not always calling for divine intervention from above. If there is one thing Ghana can beat the rest of the world at, it is prayer; yet we continue to live in largely inhumane conditions because those in charge do not do the right thing and the rest of us choose to leave everything in the hands of God.
People are entitled to their beliefs, of course, and coupled with the right motivations faith indeed can move mountains. However, absent the necessary actions to improve our lot, over-reliance on prayer would leave us like Saul; believing we are the chosen one whilst our actions drive us closer and closer to our doom.