Hypocrisy From The Pulpit!

Most Rev. Prof Emmanuel Asante

Did we hear The Most Rev. Prof Emmanuel Asante, right? Did he shower accolades on President John Evans Atta Mills's so-called 'pious humility?' Did he also ask Ghanaians to consider the ways of President John Evans Mills and be wise or even emulate him? Fair enough.

Did he also warn those who he claimed were raining insults on Prof. Mills not to take the Prof's humility and piousness for granted?

And did he stop at that?
Many people said they heard him and we do not have cause to doubt the integrity of such persons as to rubbish their reports.

We did not hear him ourselves, having only read the report in one of the national newspapers. We thought that, perhaps, a printer's devil was responsible for what did not come out which could have balanced his utterances, warnings and advice. If what he said was exactly what was reported, then to say the least, we are most disappointed.

Really, we least expected such a seemingly upright personality to veer from his normally acceptable conduct and manner of speaking to what has come to be regarded as one-sided, inappropriate remarks and counsel.

Be that as it may, we can only venture a conclusion that the clergyman is no longer one of those whose words sound sweet in the ears of most Ghanaians and therefore held in high esteem.

Something negative has descended on him to the extent that his observations and counsel have been blemished. He has lost it. Perhaps to be fair to the clergyman, he was overwhelmed by the glee of the Castle and equally excited by the visiting British clergyman, Rev. Jenny Impey, who he led to the president.

His sudden decision to goad President Mills to continue in his path of hypocrisy is beyond our ken, at a time when the man pretends not to hear his subordinates throwing rather more vitriolic abuses and insults all over the place at their opponents and perceived enemies.

Given the volume of insults emanating from the Castle boys' offensive conduct which gained a notorious intensity in the twilight of the Kufuor regime, we find it unfortunate that the Rev Prof would open his mouth to suggest that the president is an angel and others who return the insults of his hounds are descendants of Lucifer. One could even justifiably argue that there is nothing positive to learn from a president who turns his face to the opposite direction when his subordinates insult other politicians, squirming only when he is caught in the crossfire of the vitriolic exchanges.

In a politically polarised society such as ours, such so-called men of God, when they seek to make political interventions as the Rev Prof did, should be careful of the content of their remarks, lest they are excommunicated from the ranks of the hallowed and revered.

We have every respect for the Church and acknowledge the existence of good clergymen who have made objective observation of the realities in the country, not so though this time with the Rev Prof.

For the clergyman in question, 'see no evil, hear no evil' from one side of the political divide appears to be the order. This is obviously a faux pas! Therefore, we express our unhappiness.

Where was he when Hannah Bisiw described Nana Akufo Addo, one of Ghana's foremost politicians, as a sexy old fool? Did he hear Kobby Acheampong's infamous 'cocoa asi kurasini' saga or Koku Anyidoho's open detestation of the face of former President Kufuor, in addition to his sponsored insults in the print media through downright dirty vulgarity?

Rev. Prof. Asante, we are disappointed this time round.