False Prophets and history

Our Constitution clearly allow citizens the right of freedom of worship and as such this country does not discriminate but accepts all forms of religious orders to operate freely. This constitutional right, however, does not mean any self-proclaimed prophet (and there are many of them) can simply say whatever he or she likes in the name of religious plurality.

This becomes worse when such people falsify history to suit their own parochial ambitions and capricious whims, especially in a country made up largely of illiterates who rely on the educated few to apprise them of what goes on in the world.

The Chronicle has had occasions to hear many such uninformed religious pretenders and normally does not go out of its way to prick their ballooning pride. However a story we published in our 10 May issue in which one Prophet Prince Baidoo makes some wild assertions and false historical claims must not be allowed to pass for the truth and must be debunked with all forcefulness.

This prophet is alleged to have stated that Ghana's woes stem from a so-called “Kankan Nyame” which our first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah supposedly installed at the Flagstaff House and the Castle, as well as the Independence Square.

To wit: “Dr Nkrumah made a pregnant woman kneel, tied seven white handkerchiefs around her neck and hands.

There were some bowls around the pregnant woman containing human blood and human skulls placed in between the bowls.” This, according to Prophet Baidoo, was the “Kankan Nyame” in photographs sold in 1966 when Nkrumah was overthrown.

Obviously this Prince Baidoo was either not born or was a minor in 1966 otherwise he would have known that many doctored pictures depicting all forms of improbabilities were sold to a gullible public by some get-rich-quick charlatans after Nkrumah's overthrow in 1966. There were even so-called “authentic” pictures of the monster that Madam Fathia, Nkrumah's wife, was supposed to have delivered at birth! It later turned out to be Nkrumah's last-born, Sekou, now a journalist.

We would like to advise such self-proclaimed prophets not to falsify history in their bid for cheap publicity. “Kankan Nyame,” as anybody who cares to know can find out, is a name given to a fetish at a town in Guinea called Kankan.

Again to equate ex-President Rawlings' slogan of “Gye Nyame” which is really nothing but an Akan Adinkra symbol, (which praises our Creator) with pagan worship only goes to demonstrate the extent to which Prince Baidoo has swallowed hook, line and sinker, the disparaging view of some white people to anything African.

For people like him, the black man is only an appendage to the European and everything African is either heathen or devilish.

The British who shot Sergeant Adjetey and others at the Castle crossroads are angels, and so are those who built the Castle to transport slaves to the New World in the 17th century.

And like the person whose witness is forever travelling, Prophet Baidoo has the temerity to say that he knows where certain things are hidden, and would only unearth them “when invited” by the President.

He should tell that to the marines, not to hardworking Ghanaians who are striving to make headway in this unjust world. People like Prophet Prince Baidoo should be careful of their utterances because Ghanaians are now alert and wide-awake.