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

Like all the other religious leaders of the so-called Independent Churches who have actively involved themselves in the political culture of the country, Prophet Isaac Owusu-Bempah is regarded as a controversial Christian cleric by those who deem his “prophecies” to be deliberately and tendentiously directed against their good fortunes.

But, of course, whether one agrees with the founder and head of the Glorious Word Power Ministry International Church or not, as I have indicated time and again, the incontrovertible fact still remains that Dr. Isaac Owusu-Bempah, like every bona fide Ghanaian citizen, is entitled to his own opinion.

And whether whatever he claims to be prophecies directly revealed to him by Divine Providence, vis-à-vis the outcome of the 2016 general election, are valid or invalid, is not a matter for us earthlings to determine. At the end of the day, the validity or otherwise of whatever he passes off as prophecies or revelations from Divine Providence, or God, is a matter best determined between the ordained supplicant and his deity.

After all, haven’t our ancient Akan sages perspicuously observed that: “When somebody was going through her/his departure formalities with his/her god, there was nobody else around besides the sojourner and his/her God”?

In his latest prophetic revelation, Dr. Owusu-Bempah claims that Mrs. Charlotte Kesson-Smith Osei, the country’s Electoral Commissioner, has been studiously conspiring with the man who named her to her post to rig Election 2016 in favor of President John Dramani Mahama (See “Charlotte Osei Will Die If Mahama Is Declared Winner – Owusu-Bempah” DailyGuideAfrica.com / Ghanaweb.com 9/22/16).

The renowned prophetic preacher also claims that the Electoral Commission’s chair intends to use “proxy and special voting” as the primary means or what he has been widely quoted as describing as “the window of opportunity” to rig the 2016 general election.

In exchange for corrupting the will of the Ghanaian people in the choice of who their leader should be, according to Prophet Owusu-Bempah, God will afflict Mrs. Osei with several deadly and incurable diseases which would hasten the demise of perhaps the most maligned and controversial figure ever to be named Electoral Commissioner in postcolonial Ghana.

If all the case scenarios provided by Prophet Owusu-Bempah have validity in the practical realm of reality, then, of course, there can be no gainsaying that Mrs. Osei would deserve whatever comes to her by way of Divine recompense.

What is rather problematic here is that Prophet Owusu-Bempah does not tell us what would happen to President Mahama, if it should turn out, as prophesied by Dr. Owusu-Bempah, that, indeed, the notorious megalomaniac had colluded with his widely alleged point-woman to rig Election 2016.

We ask the preceding question because if we accept the all-too-sound premise that Divine Providence, or God, is an evenhanded moral force, then, of course, it stands to reason to expect that the Gonja petty chieftain is apt to come to the same end as the woman he is alleged to have politically debauched or corrupted.

To be certain, one would expect a treasonous President Mahama to be meted an even more damning and/or deadly punishment than the EC chair. On the latter count, Prophet Owusu-Bempah does not completely disappoint. The leader of the Glorious Power Ministry clearly appreciates the well-worn maxim of Divine Providence’s being primarily open to helping those who help themselves, or have their own private interests at heart.

Consequently, Prophet Owusu-Bempah is reported to have counseled the leaders and key operatives of the country’s main opposition New Patriotic Party to come out of their notoriously nauseating penchant for “gentility” or “timidity” and confront the corrupt and cynical forces in charge of the country head-on, or failing to healthily rise to the occasion, forever have themselves to blame.