The Religious Tussle And Why President Mahama Should Speak In Season On It

Sometimes I tend to believe that the president thinks he is still the minister of communication or MP and not the president in his speeches. No one underestimate your PR acumen but having an apt speech at the wrong time is a problem. As a president, I believe cabinet and ministers of states are your biggest asset in decision making and your pronouncement thereafter.

What are institutions made for if their expertise will not be tabbed in broad consultation for national consensus. Either these happen or not, I think you either talk too much or you don't speak in season on some issues. The many faulted deadline on the energy crisis is a clear manifestation of what I am saying. But Alas, those are political jingles I am used to.

Unfortunately, issues of religion is very sensitive and critical, and the least wisdom applied to its handling, the better we sustain the national unity. In your SONA address when you spoke about this religious misunderstanding that have choked our airwaves in the past week, I told my friend the president erred completely on this issue. The constitution of course is just a reference book and not a holy book, reason why we sometimes have its amendment and people will always have allegiance for the latter. In many instances, wisdom must prevail in what is written in the constitution for the sake of national unity.

As a leader, what I expected was a broader consultation and firm decision made to curb this issue at its early stage before extremist take advantage of it. Unfortunately, you did your 'thing' again and statement and counter statement from different quarters thereafter has put our nation into a boiling point of religious discussion.

By force worship or hijab, I do not blame the education ministry for confirming your position. I do not blame the GES for counter statement of compulsory devotion, I do not blame the leadership of the Muslim Student Association asking their student to defy the GES order, I do not blame the Peace Council crying of government sabotage of resolving the issue, I do not blame the Catholic Bishops insisting on their values in their schools (the status quo to remain) and whoever cannot abide by it must get out.

You see all these statements born out of a group's faith and passion emanated as a result of what the president said without consultation. If a Muslim nurse sister, after the minister of health media statement without any written directives to the health centers, will wear hijab to work and create an issue, you will clearly understand when the president should have spoken.

Yesterday, when I read the statement from the Muslim leadership asking for consultation and not confrontation, I saw a clear wisdom in a religion who want peace through dialogue in our country. And I don't understand, if religious issues are arising from mission cum public schools , Islamic schools or Muslim sisters wearing hijab in the hospitals, banks, police stations and the likes, why not allow the appropriate institutions to work especially when the constitution does not make things so explicit. Mr. president, please leave politics out of this and allow the appropriate institutions to solve this issue.

I was born in the 80's, a period when Ghana was having the worse economic issues ever so I am used to this current economic challenges. Even after your possible four years re-election, I think the mess will one day be cleaned. But In what I will never forgive you, and I mean never, I guess many too is allow this nation to be plugged into religious tension. Whether by indirect or implied action of your leadership, the least I will expect for my generation is to see a disintegrated nation on religious line.

Many and almost every Ghanaian is offering a possible solution on this religious brouhaha. I hope tomorrow, in your 58th independence speech, you will not offer a possible solution as an ordinary Ghanaian (of course you are not) but you will speak (I wish you don't offer any solution as the Supreme Court is in now) as a president on this issue with wisdom and please the country is too big for you to use your own reasoning alone to offer solutions, consult before your statement ruin as further.

And as a nation, I think we should think of national unity first if we want our religious freedom. In fact freedom without rules is chaos and we must know when and where to put certain religious practices. we must not allow religion to destroy the national unity we have had over the years. Ghana is a secular state and whether it's the Muslim/Christian/Atheist/Traditionalist/Buddhist right or not, I think somebody is right somewhere and we must allow the appropriate bodies to reach consensus on this. I have many friends in some religious tension countries and I wouldn't like to go through the experience they share with me. Let's stop the rationalization and be patient and tolerant on this. I know we shall overcome this.

Emmanuel Kwasi Mensah,
L'Aquila, Italy.