Is Atta-Mills Godfearing Or Superstitious?

President John Evans Atta Mills

It is only the lazy in mind, thought and deed who thinks there is a God somewhere who will solve his or her problems overnight for him or her.

Last week, the proverbial printer's devil, wherever it came from, distorted my thoughts and misrepresented facts in my article. Indeed so bad was the work of the devil which I do not believe exists anyway, that it ended up bringing in a personality who had nothing to do with the article and left off the hook, someone whose name was to be in the article.

Honourable Twumasi Ampofo had nothing to do with the piece, while Hon.  Appiah, the subject of the piece and the latest NDC Member of Parliament to have bad mouthed the Chiefs of the Western Region, also had nothing to do with salt which I am unaware exists in his area, the Sene constituency. The person whose constituency has salt and believes that that resource belongs to his people only and yet thinks that the resources from the Western region belongs to all is Hon. Alfred Abayetei. The printer's devil, if it really exists, did play a very good trick on me. Apologies from me to you the reader.

This week, I am going to be my controversial best and perhaps create some disaffection towards myself, but pardon me, because that is me. It is my fervent belief that many societies have by and large been built and developed on the widely accepted values and beliefs which go beyond group or class faith or religious inclinations. While such societies respect the religious beliefs of its members, by and large, it is not the   parochial beliefs of individuals or groups that drive the society generally. That is why in spite of the moral injunctions which each religious faith espouses, the general society draws a set of rules and guidelines which may be described as laws, to govern the whole society irrespective of one's faith.

Ghana, by the 1992 4 th Republican Constitution, is a secular society where each and everyone has the right to practice his or her religious beliefs, taking into account the right of others to practice their beliefs as well, all within the confines of the laws of this country.

No one group of religious adherents, no matter how dominant they may be, has the right to impose their beliefs on the rest of the population in any form and in anyway. Religion is and should be a purely private matter to the individual, and nobody should covertly or overtly attempt to impose any kind of religious beliefs on others at any point in time.

When I had the opportunity to do a Fellowship in the U.S.A, I toured and had meetings with scores of strong institutions of both private and public nature across the length and breadth of that great country. I sat in numerous public lectures of diverse topics and subjects. Not a single one of them began with any form of prayers, be they Christian or Islamic. Indeed, the Bush administration even banned prayers in public schools because it was his belief that the children in those schools came from varied religious backgrounds and that it was unfair and a breach of the fundamental rights of the children to be daily subjected to a particular religious doctrine. Yet, on the U.S currency, the almighty dollar, is the inscription 'In God We Trust'.

Even though Americans trust in God, their circumstances are not dictated by God, I dare say. Americans are where and what they are because they have thinkers who visualize the future, and other people and institutions help translate those visions into practical realities.

When President Bill Clinton was handing the baton of leadership of the Democratic Party to his Vice president, Al Gore, in August 2000 in Los Angeles, California, to lead the Democrats in the 2000 elections, he told Americans 'we are where we are not by chance but by choice'. In Ghana, many of us build our lives on chance and not by choice. Sadly President Atta Mills is deepening that unfortunate mindset amongst a significant majority of our populace.

Ever since Egya Atta became the President of this country, not a single policy statement has emanated from any of his public utterances, except to put his leadership and the future of this country in the 'hands of the Lord', to the point of saying Jesus is the President of this country. What about if someone wakes up and says that it is Mohammed who is the President of this country, and another comes up to say that Kweku Firi is the President of this country? Will we not be putting this country into religious chaos? I dare say that the incompetence and the lack of ideas and the decrepit leadership style of Egya Atta has made him throw his arms into the air, seeking solution to the needs of the people of this country, as well as looking for salvation to flee from the siege from his own internal political cohorts.

This country is being led by a superstitious person who does not have the capacity to rack his brain for practical solutions to the myriad of problems confronting this nation. More often than not, we associate superstition with atheists and in the case of Ghanaians, non-believers. The New Lexicon Webster's Dictionary of the English Language defines superstition as   'a belief or beliefs justified neither by reason nor evidence nor by any religious canon'. So you see, those who believe that a certain faith can solve this nation's problems themselves have no plans for this nation.

The spin doctors of the NDC are white-washing President Atta Mills' incompetence by making him look so pious, indeed, hypocritically virtuous. Unknown to him, he is being portrayed as a 'pious do-gooder who is afraid to face the facts' of his leadership deficiency.

If Ghanaians wanted a religious person to lead this country, they would have voted for either Alhaji Sheik Shalibotu or Cardinal Appiah Turkson. We voted for someone who is supposed to appreciate the challenges that confront this nation, think and use the resources available to us to solve the problems of today and prepare the grounds for the future growth and development of this nation, and not a lame, visionless and malleable (according his own people) President who seeks solace and succour under religion.

By the way, which church does Egya Atta attend regularly? In my life, I have witnessed just two devout Christian leaders in this country by deed and action. When I was a kid, I saw Prime Minister K. A. Busia worshipping in a particular Methodist Church in Accra on most Sundays when he was in the capital, through the media. J. A. Kufuor's Catholic credentials are also not in doubt. Which known church does Egya Atta worship?  In any case, can Egya Atta tell us that those countries he is trotting to for financial aid to enable him execute his faulty Better Ghana Agenda, see Jesus as the President of their countries, or that they think, generate policies from their thoughts and translate those policies into practical achievements which improve the lives of their people?  A God fearing person, if I should go by the doctrines of Christianity, is one who will never do anything to hurt his fellow human beings who are supposed to have been created in the image of God.

Can Egya Atta say that majority of Ghanaians are living in the image of God? I do not believe that God lives with hunger; that water is not available to God; that God cannot afford to pay the school fees of his children, if he has any. No God fearing man will be so vindictive as to deny his predecessors simple and decent accommodation as the laws of this country state. That he treats his opponents within his political party as lepers not fit to shake hands with.

He is simply a virtuous hypocrite playing on the sentiments, emotions, and to the extreme, the gullibility of many of our people. We have more than enough of God fearing people in this country who rape other peoples' wives, fidget with the womanhood of some female church members and defraud others, all in the name of God. Egya Atta should not add to our woes by hoodwinking us with his God fearing posture when he is simply incompetent and bereft of ideas that will move this country forward. China and Brazil have leaders who may not be God fearing but think and find solutions to problems. Keep your religious beliefs to yourself and solve the problems that confront this nation.

It is indeed only the lazy in mind, thought and deed who thinks there is a God somewhere who will solve his or her problems overnight for him or her. A God fearing man cannot congregate with believers of antoa nyama and frog swallowers. Enough of the balderdash. Where is my glass, eei, my bitters is dwindling so fast oooo and no cash to fill it; anyway let me 'cut' some in the name of the God fearing President.

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