Opinions of Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Columnist: The Catalyst

Does God Answer Hypocritical Prayers?

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has announced that it is in the process of establishing prayer camps in all the 10 regions of Ghana. This would have been a surprising development to all well-meaning Ghanaians but for the ardent hypocritical nature of NPP’s conduct over the years. What one may not be too sure of, though, is as to whether God answers hypocritical prayers against a genuine course.

The NPP raised hell a few months ago, claiming President Mills was praying too much at the Castle. To be precise, they claimed the President has turned the Castle into a prayer camp. For them, prayer was not necessary as far as government business was concerned, as competence is all that is required to govern a country.

The question then to ask is as to what agenda the NPP prayer camps are going to pursue.

Is it a resolve of the NPP to pray to God for forgiveness of the numerous sins it committed as a party and government both in the past and present so as to obtain favour from God in its quest to capture power from the NDC in 2012? It is an agenda for the NPP to ask God to take power from the hands of the Mills-led NDC government for an Akufo-Addo-led NPP government irrespective of the fact that the Mills-led NDC government is genuinely on course in clearing the mess the Kufuor-led NPP government left behind?

Or, is it going to be an effort in asking God to bless Ghana through the efforts of President Mills and his government, for a better Ghana for all to enjoy? Considering the peculiarity of NPP’s political culture, it will be naive for anyone to think that the NPP is thinking of asking for the forgiveness of sins or praying for God’s guidance for President Mills to lead this country into the promised land.

Clearly, the purpose of the NPP prayer camps is for them to try to convince God to bring about a change of government in their favour in 2012 general elections even if that will cause doom for this country.

Of course, the NPP is applying the ‘all die be die’ political philosophy to its campaign since the party is determined to win power by every means possible. NPP persons are ready to kill as professed by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofee, a member of the governing board of the Akufo-Addo-backed Danquah Institute in his attack on a journalist.

They are ready to insult openly as expressed by the party’s communications director, Nana Akomea recently on Joy Fm’s Newsfile where he brazenly insulted a deputy minister referring to him as a ‘stupid fool.’ The NPP made mockery of the door-to-door campaign strategy adopted in the 2008 elections by then Candidate Atta Mills of the NDC. What do we see today? Akufo-Addo is shamelessly embarking on a door-to-door campaign dubbed ‘listening campaign.’

The NPP made President Jerry John Rawlings a laughingstock because they claimed he ate ‘yor ke gari’ by the roadside. Today, Akufo-Addo is not only going round eating roasted plantain by the wayside but eating in poor people’s homes like a homeless beggar of a national status in front of the TV cameras to show how humble he is.

So why would it be surprising to anybody when the NPP now makes a U-turn to say that it now sees the relevance of prayer in the governance process and that it needed the favour of God to win the 2012 elections first of all?

The NPP is already in high gear in the process of distorting facts, casting innuendos and spreading falsehoods among others in a bid to turn the people of Ghana against the Mills-led NDC government.

What appears to be lost on the NPP however is that God is not a Ghanaian politician let alone a Danquah Busiaist who will chose to close his eyes to the reality in pursuance of parochial political expediency.

God is not some Akufo-Addo or Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey in an NPP court before whom a case against President Mills and the NDC will be brought for trial. God is still God- HOLY, JUST and PURE, not some god that can be pigeonholed by a desperate political party to do its bidden of letting it take back political power at all costs to misuse.

It is not in the power of any mortal to say whether God will answer a prayer by any individual or group of individuals. What one can state without fear or favour however, is that the Akufo-Addo-led NPP is the epitome of political hypocrisy.

And from the little we know from the Holy Scriptures, God does not answer hypocritical prayers.