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20.10.2021 Feature Article

Curse as an effective weapon for correcting some ills in the Ghanaian society

Curse as an effective weapon for correcting some ills in the Ghanaian society
20.10.2021 LISTEN

Curse dates as far back as the foundations of the world. This is proven by the bible. God does inflict generational curse upon some people if they obstinately defy His commandments in violation of His strictest instructions to them on particular issues or occasions.

In Genesis 2:14-19, the serpent, Eve and Adam were all cursed by God when they became disobedient and ate from the forbidden tree.

Putting a curse on anyone is with intent to establish the truth when a crime has been committed with or without knowing the doer. The situation may necessitate that we obligatorily have to know the perpetrator of a particular crime hence resorting to a curse. This method of discovering the truth or punishing a wrongdoer is permissible by our Ghanaian culture.

Again, a curse can be invoked to prevent someone from taking a particular action deemed not to be in the interest of the people.

Before proceeding any further, let me pause to define what a CURSE is. A CURSE is defined as, “a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something”. This utterance to invoke the intended supernatural power is always done in good faith by many an invoker. The invocation of that supernatural power through a curse helps to obtain the two objectives explained above, thus, to detect and punish who has committed a particular crime or to prevent one from taking certain criminal actions.

It could be invoked in attempts to exonerate oneself from a particular blame of which he/she knows nothing about but the public or family or the people instantly around are blaming him or her for it. The curse put on someone can either clear them of the wrongdoing if nothing happens to them, or confirm that they have actually committed the crime in question when something punitive happens to them.

In the olden days, our ancestors did use it a lot to discover the truth about committed crimes. Whoever had secretly committed such crime(s) was severely punished with either illness or death.

By resort to curse, many a person living in that era feared to commit crimes. Therefore, they all lived in peace and harmony devoid of stealing or cheating, unlike in today’s Ghana where people have become infatuated with committing gargantuan crimes with impunity.

Everybody respected one another’s property and their ownership without seeking to fraudulently avail themselves of their neighbour’s property, unlike in today’s Ghana.

Therefore, if curse served them a good purpose, why should we not embrace it and incorporate it into our public governing laws? If it does, it can help curtail or stop the official corruption that has become the order of the day but causing more harm than good to the African countries, especially, Ghana.

Our politicians and traditional chiefs are almost all corrupt; embezzling state funds and assets or repugnantly abusing their powers.

Why do some people desire to persuade he who curses the other to revoke the curse? I can’t get it.

The curse is to establish the truth by punishing the wrongdoer or he who is telling lies. It is invoked depending on what the ulterior motive of the invoker is, as could be determined from the words or statements they utter.

As it is said, if reading is the food of the mind, then let’s have it in abundance, so shall I insist that if curse can prevent many crimes from being committed in Ghana, then let it come out of our mouth same as we breathe.

All those abusing their positions to cheat the people of Kumawu Sekyere District and Constituency, because they are politicians, traditional overlords, etc. and wield absolute power, can intimidate, harass and falsely cause the imprisonment of the poor in society, I say, curse be upon their head.

Rockson Adofo

Wednesday, 20 October 2021

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