Election 2024: Bawumia as a 24-hour Religious Butterfly

Fellow Ghanaians, an ancient proverb says that, "no man rides to freedom on the chariot of Pharaohs." This means that, regardless, one can never find pleasant result with the combination of certain things. Hypocrisy and leadership; or Pharaoh’s chariot and freedom.

As a student of religion, one thing I have noticed which keeps puzzling many great minds in that world of unseen and spirituality, is what can't be called contradictions in Holy Scriptures of God even though they appear to be so. For example, in Ecclesiastes Chapter 1 verse 4, it reads that "one generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abide forever.” Yet in another verse in Hebrew Chapter 1 verses 10 to 11, it says that “it is God who has created the heavens and the earth, and they shall perish but God abides forever.” “What?!” I exclaimed rhetorically. How can the heavens and earth abide forever as well as perish, at the same time? I queried.

Then in the Holy Qur’an Chapter 2:34, God says He commanded the angels to bow down to Adam when He had finished creating him, and all bowed except Iblis. At the same time, God tells humanity in the same Holy Qur’an Chapter 66 verse 6, that the angels do not disobey God's commandments. They are perfect beings and do not commit sins.

It goes to say, with this conflicting information in the holy scriptures, that a man who is a “butterfly religious consumer”, "too" religious and who wants to be in a monastery, synagogue, Church, and a Mosque at the same time, is surely going to be at a loss and moral quandary due to this convolution of confusion.

Fellow Ghanaians, I presume this contradiction-syndrome is what Dr. Bawumia may have been affected with by both the Holy Qur'an and the Holy Bible as a "religious animal and butterfly", if "religious prostitution" is deemed harsh.

But, as contradictory these verses may seem to be, both Holy Scriptures have perfect antidote to all agitated minds and doubting Thomases who may have questioned the Divine origins of these scriptures as God can’t simply tell a lie.

So, in Jeremiah Chapter 8 verse 8, the holy Bible clarifies this anomaly and affirms that the word of man has found its way into the Bible which adulterated its content. The holy Qur’an also defends itself in Chapter 18:50 that this Iblis wasn’t really an Angel; he was the leader of the “Jinni” (aliens) on earth and God elevated his status to heaven.

Meanwhile, amidst such defenses put up by these holy scriptures to redeem their image, Dr. Bawumia and his boat-load of flippant and conscienceless economic bandits, have not been able to defend themselves regarding their flip-flopping stance on the 24-hour economic policy proposed by former President John Dramani Mahama.

Critical look at the policy of the 24-hour economy proposed by the former President, and by the grace of God, the next president of Ghana, the policy certainly has what is referred to in legal terminologies as the “letter” and “spirit” of the law (policy).

In the English grammar, the policy would have been looked up in terms of its “connotative” and “denotative” meanings. Connotative meanings of words are basically what those words imply just by reading the sentence, and denotative meanings refer to the dictionary meaning of words used in sentences.

In law, the “letter” of the law is what is written down for all to read of the law, and the “spirit” of the law is the hidden meaning of the law which requires judicial expertise to be interpreted. It’s the raison d’etre of the law, which always impacts the verdict delivered by judges. The spirit of the law has always complemented the letter of the law. This is where the services of judges are necessary who know the reason behind the law. In Shariah law (Islamic law), it’s called “Maqasid Shariah”. Thus, the intent or purpose behind the law which is usually coded. Even though both the letter and the spirit of the law go hand-in-hand, sometimes the spirit of the law overrides the letter in delivering justice.

So far, critics of the 24-hour economy have emphasized the “letter” or the “denotative” understanding of the policy. But occasional interjection of the “spirit” of the policy into the political discourse in discussing it, exposes the critics as hypocrites and their talakawa of punditry.

Fundamentally, by the “letter” of the 24-hour economic policy, it means to work more than the usual working hours which many pundits and the government communicators have not gone beyond of. However, implicitly, behind this policy the former President has proposed lies HOPE, and the idea to ginger and galvanize the citizens into action 24/7 in tackling the economic woes the New Patriotic Party, NPP has put Ghanaians into so as to resuscitate the dead economy. Aside the policy being geared toward encouraging people to increase the number of hours at work, it seeks to awaken the dead economic spirit of Ghanaians due to the galloping inflation; it’s to re-energize them and to renew their enthusiasm. It might not necessarily take 24/7 to be carried out.

Loosely, again, the 24-hour policy can resonate with the “Operation Feed Yourself” of the Acheampong Era in the 1970s. The question then is, were the people of Ghana not feeding themselves already before Acheampong ascended the presidency? It’s a big fat icy cold frozen no! But embedded in that slogan was hope, renewed interest and enthusiasm which boosted the morale of the citizens, especially farmers, to work more than usual in order to revitalize and revamp the economy.

However, the deliberate disregard of the “spirit” and what the 24-hour economy policy “connotes” by Dr. Bawumia and his army and enablers of the nation’s economic destruction, and rather hammering on the “letter” and “denotative” appreciation of it alone, has exposed the hatred the current government harbors for this country. And the double standard of the NPP and Vice President Dr. Bawumia has been appallingly stinking.

In one breadth, the Vice President believes the policy is a bad idea, and in another breadth, he thinks it is already in place under the government. So while communications luminaries like Nana Akomea believe the policy is not feasible, Dr. Bawumia disagrees with them and himself at the same time.

Similar contradictory stance has been taken by the Veep’s economic aides. One Dr. Tia Abdul Kabiru in the office of the Vice President also thinks the policy is not implementable because prerequisites are lacking in the country. Meanwhile, he supports Dr. Bawumia’s argument that the current economy is already a 24-hour one. How? (Note that, “Tia” is a name of a Shrine in the north, and this has been combined with one of the 99 names of Allah in Islam: Kabir. So, the name “Tia Abdul Kabiru Mahama in itself is hypocrisy. You can’t combine Allah and Shrine). Haha.

Dennis Miracles Aboagye seems bolder than Dr. Tia Abdul Kabiru. One of the numerous presidential staffers at the presidency, Miracles Aboagye totally disagrees with Dr. Tia Abdul Kabiru Mahama. He supports the former President’s idea of a 24-hour economy although he wants to know the specific areas the former President is seeking to incorporate into the policy. Miracles Aboagye’s demands to know specific areas of the 24-hour economy implementation rather contradicts Bawumia’s claims that the 24-hour economy is already in place, since Miracles Aboagye would have already known those areas Dr. Bawumia claims to have been enjoying a 24-hour economy. Then, Lawyer Maurice Ampaw quickly trashed all of this NPP’s goons’ kindergarten-like analysis. For him, the policy is feasible and laudable but ghosts may be the only impediment in respect of its implementation and operations at night. Haha. What comical-economic managers has this country been cursed with.

The confusion within the ruling NPP government has become rather shocking. Wanton hypocrisy coupled with their greed and avaricious agenda to loot the nation dry and to protect themselves from consequences in the event of an advent of a new government, has clouded their sense of reasoning to be saying all this different and contradictory things on one issue simultaneously.

But fellow Ghanaians, this first-class hypocrisy and double standard does not come as a surprise to us.

The massive and flat failure of President Akufo Addo’s government has stemmed from the above ancient wisdom: “you can never attain freedom riding in the chariot of a Pharaoh.”

The elevation and graduation of his subterfuges, deceits, and shenanigans from the humankind stage to the divine stage when he did propaganda with the almighty God, promised Him a national cathedral but failed Him, is certainly the cause of this kamikaze economic failure, and unbridled demagoguery. The danger is that, his (Akufo Addo) lot shall be far better than his vice President who has chosen to eschew morality, honesty, and sincerity in his quest to become president of Ghana.

Let someone reminds the vice President that Ghanaians have no problem with he being a Muslim, a Hindu, or Christian. Ghanaians don’t care if he were an atheists, but we certainly have serious challenge with his calculated attempt to be a fly-by-night religious butterfly – to belong to every faith in order to win people’s favors and sympathies at the polls.

There are severe consequences for hypocrisy; and the combination of religious, political, and economic hypocrisy is the most evil and most destructive combination which negative effects shall catapult Ghana from fry-pan to fire under hypocritical leaders.

In the Holy Qur’an, God has dedicated an entire Chapter to hypocrites in Qur’an Chapter 63. They shall have the ugliest and most horrible torment in hell fire. There’s no known sinner that shall challenge the hypocrite at the bottom of hell the depth of which is over forty years journey. No wonder the Bawumia-economic effect has been all-time poor.

Truth is, a man who is a “Timothy” and Alhaji Mahmud Bawumia at the same time, is simply a practitioner of hypocrisy! This further explains the desperation of the vice President to become president.

Does he not know that the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) said anyone who seeks to become a leader of others would never be a good leader? And his unfortunate desperation has already rendered him unfit to lead the country as far as this prophetic saying of the Prophet is concerned?

Thus, this moral fiasco and religious dilemma of the Vice President with his burning appetite to become president at all cost, are a corroboration and depiction of his persona and indeed, his economic (mis)management style. Everything he ever questioned and blamed under the erstwhile Mahama government, has come back to boomerang him big time. He has always done the opposite of what he preaches. But for some cockamamie reasons, in a rather plausible-deniability-fashion, he thinks it’s okay to proceed to become president of the republic his incompetence has rendered a poverty capital of the world.

Personally, I felt insulted as a Muslim, if that was true, when I read that Zongo youths have written to question the former president’s and flagbearer of the NDC’s criticism of our already “expired” Vice President.

It is the Dagomba people who say that when you must peddle a falsehood in any given circumstance, make sure you tell the lie backwards and not forward so that you can get to walk away from it. Otherwise, you shall meet the same lies if you have told them forward. Dr. Bawumia has been caught in his own cobwebs of past criticism of President Mahama. Besides, what makes Zongo Youths believe Dr. Bawumia represents Muslims and Islam when his wife never wears hijab for once to any national event?

The example of Dr. Bawumia is like that of Kwaku Anansi (Spider) in our Ghanaian folklore who decided to cage all wisdom of the world in a pot and hang it on the tallest tree so that nobody else would possess wisdom except him. However, he could not even climb the tree because he hanged the big pot on his chest. The Rhino was going to pass by and saw Kwaku Anansi struggling with the pot of wisdom on his chest to climbing the tree. He then coached him to rather hang the pot behind him on his back to enable him climb. He out of anger, shame, and arrogance smashed the pot of wisdom to the ground when he was able to climb the tree with the wisdom the Rhino gave him.

For wisdom, no man can ever be the repository of it; there’s always another village beyond every remotest village. Indeed, there’s somebody more knowledgeable above every other knowledgeable or competent person.

Fellow Ghanaians, may I end my epistle with the words of former Texas Senator of the United States of America, Ted Cruz, when he was cautioning Americans about then projected winner of Republican presidential nominee: Donald Trump, who, like Dr. Bawumia, had said so many different and contradictory things over the years.

Ted Cruz said, “Think about the future of this country and your kids, if someone like him (Donald Trump) were to become president of the USA. The boasting, the pathological lying. Think of your kids coming back to emulate these things from a man morality doesn't exist for.”

Though both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump were contesting for Republican presidential nominee, he refused to endorse Trump and told the party that, "History is not kind to the man who holds Mussolini's jacket".

Fellow Ghanaians, not only does history refuse to be kind to the man who holds Mussolini's jacket, any man who wishes to ride to freedom in the chariot of Pharaohs, would never be successful. This ancient wisdom simply means that, in the nutshell, the evil past of every man shall locate him, regardless. The evil of Dr. Bawumia did to become Ghana's vice president has come back for him, and dressing him in a borrowed robes to occupy the presidency is at our own peril. I don’t hate him, he is a man of great intellectual prowess, but the day he accepted to run with Akufo Addo, was the day he belittled and disgraced himself.

It is embarrassing that some stomach and "cash-and-carry" Muslim clerics want to embarrass Islam by presenting a “Timothy” to Ghanaians as a Muslim. Whether Bawumia is a Muslim or Christian, is none of my business. And I genuinely don't have any interest in the religious orientation and affiliation of any Ghanaian who seeks to lead the rest of us in the highest office of the land. But I have every interest and problem if such a fellow is a "religious butterfly". This is hypocrisy at its core. And in the holy Qur'an, the people who would receive the worst punishment of hell shall be the hypocrites. These are purchasable religious folks who combine two or more religions at ago deceiving each of them against another for purposes of worldly gains.

Dr. Bawumia as a Muslim by day and “Timothy” or Christian by night, is a demonstration of a shameless show of religious fraud Ghanaians must not contemplate giving a chance.