They Hate You for a Reason, Archbishop Duncan-Williams

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.

After hell broke loose over his alleged prayerful command to the fast-plummeting cedi to rise and regain its lost value, the General Overseer of the Christian Action Faith Ministries has, once again, made the banner headlines. This time, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams is quoted as saying that he is hated by some people for absolutely no reason at all (See "They Hate Me for No Reason - Duncan-Williams" Radioxyzonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 3/2/14).

Actually, the renowned clergyman's statement is paradoxical, because it also contains several of the reasons why he is catching so much flack from his allegedly inveterate enemies. The fact of the matter is that anybody who can command the kind of dues-paying following that has been attributed to Archbishop Duncan-Williams, is bound to be rabidly envied by those in dire craving of such prominence and popularity, more so since he is also widely known to live a lifestyle that is well beyond the means of the proverbial average Ghanaian.

And it also goes without saying that envy is the mother of hatred, and the grandmother of spite, in Shakespearean parlance. The following are some of the reasons that Archbishop Duncan-Williams gave as having inspired some people to hate him without provocation, at least as the flamboyant and charismatic preacher describes it: "Do you know there are people who are angry with you because you come to church at Action? And you know why? It's because they don't like me. And I haven't done anything to them."

Actually, you have done a lot of mind-blowing and soul-staggering things to them. For instance, there are some who claim to be privy to your past pre-born-again-Christian existence and based on the latter knowledge, are convinced that you ought not to have become as professionally successful as you are presently. But, of course, you are darn too savvy to fully appreciate the stark fact that it is neither within the power nor the will of such disdainful critics to determine your fortunes.

After all, didn't even Jesus say that many a devout Christian was bound to be deeply resented by those who loathed hearing the Word of God, as preached and expounded by the disdained Prophet of Nazareth? And so, really, what is Archbishop Duncan-Williams worried about, if, indeed, he feels righteous in his sacred cause of bringing the Great Gospel of Enlightenment to the reach and/or doorsteps of the abjectly poor and destitute?

Then also, the General Overseer of the Christian Action faith Ministries has been widely quoted as having made the following remarks: "They [i.e. his most ardent critics] just don't like my style. They think I'm aggressive. They think I'm some way. So the fact that you come to Action, they have issues with you because they don't like me and I haven't done anything to them."

Well, once again, I am forced to remind you, Archbishop Duncan-Williams, that you have done a lot of things to these stunted souls who seem to believe that the only character measure worth such designation is only the one which they themselves approve of; the fact of the matter, though, is that when critically challenged to prove why their own perspective on issues ought to be deemed as the gold standard, these critics mumble and babble sillily, and then growl askance with their tails in-between their legs like, you know what I'm talking about. Or don't you, Minister Duncan-Williams?

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*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
Department of English
Nassau Community College of SUNY
Garden City, New York
March 2, 2014
E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net
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