“These are matters that must be dealt with spiritually not physically and, so, I don’t know why they (the police) have invited me” (Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah).

It has widely been reported in the media that, Rev. Owusu Bempah, the founding overseer of the Glorious Word and Power Ministry International, accompanied by his lawyer Yaw Buaben Asamoah, turned himself in at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for questioning.

What for?

That he prophesied about some assassins in the Volta Region plotting Nana Akufo-Addo’s death! This is how he described it:

“God has revealed to me that some people are plotting to kill Nana Akufo-Addo. They are planning several ways of doing that. They have planned it in the Volta Region and so whenever he (Akufo-Addo) visits the region, they will want to kill him.”

But why the Volta Region, if we should ask again? And not that they are going to kill him, Akufo-Addo, per se but that “they will want to kill him.” The operational phrase here is “will want”!

First off, why will anyone want to kill him anyway?

This prophecy comes against the backdrop of another prophecy in which Prophet Bempah allegedly claimed Akufo-Addo would be stoned, a prophecy which allegedly came to pass.

If this is true even remotely, could anyone not have imagined the possibility of Prophet Bempah contracting another person to do the stoning to boost his spiritual powers of discernment? Could it be that someone, in this case the stone thrower, may have heard about this prophecy and decided to try it out for reasons of playful exuberance, say? And what if Rev. Bempah has been doing all these just to pitch or market his brand?

What became of his other prophecy that some politicians were also plotting to kill Akufo-Addo? Did that also come to pass?

The point of contention here is the comical juggling of forensic science and spiritual matters together by those who are supposed or expected to know better, for both are mutually disjoint in the scheme of things.

The idea of critiquing conflation of the imperatives of forensic science and those of spiritual matters stems from the possibility of Rev. Bempah being behind the plot to assassinate Akufo-Addo.

On the one hand, this may sound an outlandishly stupid proposition but we do see it as a working hypothesis instead, primarily, and among other things worthy of the seriousness of forensic attention. The point is that no stone should be left unturned while pursuing this matter to its logical conclusion.

On the other hand, Rev. Bempah appears to be overly infatuated with Akufo-Addo in particular and that, again, in and of itself, raises eyebrows as to that seemingly farfetched possibility of his being interested in Akufo-Addo’s death, political or otherwise, for whatever reason(s).

Infatuation led Mark David Chapman to shoot John Lennon and kill him; John Hinckley, Jr.’s infatuation for actress Jodie Forster caused him to shoot Ronald Reagan. Infatuation may also have had a role in Mehmet Ali A?ca’s attempted shooting death of Pope John Paul (2). Infatuation may not be far from psychosis.

By “infatuation” we simply mean this strange phenomenon called the psychology of celebrity worship, with its accompanying Celebrity Worship Syndrome (CWS), both of which are gradually creeping into our newfound culture of rubbernecking.

Prophet Bempah always wants to be heard, always wants to be in the news, for all the wrong reasons as a matter of course, we suppose.

Financial or economic motivations could be driving his opportunistic alarmism, although we shall also quickly dismiss the factor of moral imperative as being an underlying dimension of his prophetic alarmism?

Otherwise, how do we sufficiently explain his perennial outlandish alarmism? Still, there could be more to the story of his prophetic shenanigans than meets the eye.

What we are saying, in effect, is that it is also quite possible Akufo-Addo’s political enemies from the opposing camp or even from within his own camp may have contracted the services of Rev. Bempah, a well-known religious demagogue and a dangerous alarmist to boot, or anonymous persons linked to him to kill Akufo-Addo. In fact, he did make mention elsewhere of some leading party members from the Akufo-Addo camp wanting him [the latter] dead.

Of course we are raising the possibility of contract killing. What if Rev. Bempah’s contracting bosses refused to make advance payment for the contract killing and for this he has decided to expose the intentions of the contract killer(s) without necessarily naming names? Could it be possible that Rev. Bempah is a contract killer himself hiding behind the concept of psychological projection?

We also cannot put it past him, that he could be a double agent and on this basis working for both major political parties. That will certainly make him a closet admirer of the ruling party in spite of his hypocritical criticism of that same party in public. Unfortunately, he has rubbished every claim either linking him to or about his being sympathetic to the ruling party. Listen to him in his own words:

“The NDC made an attempt to bribe me some time ago but they were advised not to do it because I would have exposed them. They did not come to me directly but someone warned them against the plan after deciding to come and bribe me…the NDC should stop trailing me. They should stop contracting people to follow me because I will not stop talking.”

He also alleged that the NDC planned to burn down his church, but when specifically asked if he had reported this matter to the police, here is how he responded:

“I will not report to the police but I just want to let Ghanaians know what is going on.”

In spite of all the preceding concerns, it is still also possible that the security around Akufo-Addo and for this he wants that changed. But, if that were the case, why go through the spiritual route? Listen to the religious crank again:

“I stand by the prophecy that some people are plotting to kill Mr. Akufo-Addo, he must beef up his security.”

Finally, though we take the police inviting him for questioning as a precautionary measure, we equally believe it is in the best interest of our national security that religious cranks such as Rev. Bempah are closely monitored for their alarmist pronouncements. It is also appropriate they subject these cranks to psychological evaluation.

Next time he should ask his God to reveal the identities of political assassins to him, to make the job of the security officials easier.

Beyond that, police investigators should probe and debrief him further as he may know more than he had already spilled, and if he is genuinely patriotic and truly loves Akufo-Addo as he claims he will eventually spill the beans.

Otherwise, police investigators might want to take the chance and go to the spiritual realm with him.

There is, however, no doubt in our minds that this man is a prophet of doom. His lawyer says he is “now a spiritual informant for police.” Since when did Ghana get to this stage? Indeed, Ghana is in serious trouble if such cranks and demagogues are deemed role models!

CLOSING REMARKS

No doubt Rev. Bempah is a pagan oracle of tabloid political secrets. With that said, he behaves as though he has been a gangbanger trying to leave his gang but fearing the consequences of violating the tenets of omertà (see Mario Puzo’s novel “Omertà”).

If he is a “national asset” as his lawyer claims then this occult hegemon of irrational pragmatism must come clean with the people of Ghana about what he actually knows about all these alleged assassination plots beyond his cheap, unschooled language of spiritual narcissism.

These days there are all these greedy bastards demanding humongous sums of money from politicians and political parties in exchange for their loyalties, but when their demands are not met they shift their allegiances to the highest bidder from an opposing politician or political party. Mr. Beautiful, otherwise known as Clement Boney, and some of his colleagues in the creative industry have leveled a similar charge against actor Agya Koo.

Let us not ignore the fact that these alarmist pre-election auguries—purely of a political nature—have negative implications for foreign and even local investment choices for investors. There should therefore be effective ways of de-politicizing them, curtailing them through a repeal of aspects of the Criminal Code (Act 2001), or channeling them away from the public space.

Of course these policy suggestions will be difficult to carry out, we know, but what and where are the viable alternatives? Our position is that these alarmist rumors and auguries tend to polarize the country, pit the two major political parties, politicians and their followers against each other. They also pit the secular and the religious against each other, thus undermining the constitutional secularity of the Ghanaian society.

It constitutes an irony of laughable proportions when the same God gives conflicting pre-election prophecies to these so-called Men of God, even while they preach to the world that God is not the author of confusion. If indeed God is not the author of confusion, then who are these Men of God? Is this God the same Judeo-Christian God both President Mahama and Akufo-Addo supposedly worship?

How many mouths does this God have? Is this God a henotheistic deity or a monotheistic deity? Which is which? How many mouths does this God have? Is this God a henotheistic deity, a monotheistic deity, or a polytheistic deity? Which is which? Does the God of atheists have a say in the outcome of the upcoming general elections? Is this God the Electoral Commission (EC) and its Chair, Madam Charlotte Osei? And why are we not hearing from the God of our Traditional Religion, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam...?

Is it not strange that Bishop Obinim also claims to have the power to rig the elections for any political party? Hear the attention-seeking religious lunatic speak on this matter:

“For those of you who think you are voting for NDC, NPP, CPP or PPP when you are done voting for your candidate physically, I will spiritually change your vote. If you voted for NDC I can change the vote for NPP and do same for the NDC if you voted for the NPP.”

Talk is cheap indeed. This sounds more like a bad business pitch presentation than a serious statement, of incalculable forensic worth! Which spiritual supermarkets or bazaars are Bishop Obinim and Rev. Bempah buying their spiritual wares from? Election season and harvest time are here! Religious lunacy and buffoonery are also here!

REFERENCES

Ghanaweb. “Volta Assassins Plotting To Kill Akufo-Addo—Rev. Owusu Bempah.” October 21, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “Owusu Bempah Now A Spiritual Informant For Police—Lawyer.”October 27, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “Owusu Bempah's Followers Jubilate After His Release.” October 27, 2016.

Leah Sottile. (August 13, 2015). “When Death Is a Fascination.” Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/08/death-obsessed/400880/

Stephen Odoi Larbi. (September 26, 2016). “AUDIO: NDC, NPP big boys plotting Akufo-Addo’s Death—Rev. Owusu Bempah.” Retrieved from https://kasapafmonline.com/2016/09/13/ndc-npp-big-boys-plotting-akufo-addos-death-rev-owusu-bempah/

Ghanaweb. “NDC Planned To Burn Down My Church—Owusu Bempah.”August 31, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “Owusu Bempah Now A Spiritual Informant for Police—Lawyer.” October 27, 2016.

Ghanaweb. “I Can Rig The Elections For Any Party; I'm A Dangerous Man of God—Obinim Declares.” October 24, 2026.