Since Ghana returned to constitutional democracy in 1992, the country has been praised for the strides it has made. We consistently rank very high on many indexes from press freedom to transparent elections; the few times you can mention Ghana, Sweden and Germany, as equals, in the same sentence.
ADVERTISEMENT
Is democracy too nice?
As a journalist, I enjoy the goods of our democracy every day; doing my job without the threat of persecution lingering in my head.
Recommended articles
The rule of law and due process are some of these democratic principles. Their application ensures that everyone is treated equally and fairly by the law.
I like to think of myself as one of democracy’s biggest defenders, willing to get into debates on a myriad of issues including Gadaffi’s legacy, religious freedom (including the right not to belong to any religion) and (quite contentiously) sexual freedom.
However, the latest out-of-the-reasonable-world action by the self-styled bishop Daniel Obinim has left my belief in democracy, shaken, to put it lightly.
ADVERTISEMENT
Background
A three minute video which has gone viral sees Daniel Obinim in church lashing a young man on his bare body with a belt after he confessed to impregnating a young woman. He later turns to the girl (pregnant), flogging her also mercilessly with a belt in the full glare of his congregation.
She attempts to escape, running to Obinim's wife (the gospel singer Florence Obinim) but she was dragged back by trainee pastors to enable the bishop mete out more beatings.
Florence and any other member of the congregation is not seen attempting to stop the beatings.
After subjecting the two to severe flogging, Obinim orders his junior pastors to remove their belts and continue flogging the couple.
ADVERTISEMENT
This incident was broadcast on a television station the pastor owns.
This joins a tall list of offensive things and crimes committed by the preacher. From adultery to vandalism, verbal assaults to the infamous stomping on the belly of what looked like a pregnant woman* as part of deliverance service.
‘A sense of powerlessness’
The latest horrifying video of the incident has left me thinking of very ‘unlawful’ things authorities should do and should have already done to this person. I will refrain from sharing some of these actions for the sake of younger readers.
But democracy does not allow for those things. Because, the law allows people like Obinim and his apprentice pastors to exist in the first place.
ADVERTISEMENT
There is the freedom to establish a church, make money off it, insult and assault and even operate a television station. As a journalist, I always welcome the establishment of a media organisation; it promotes the multiplicity of voices, serves as another check on society’s actions and also means more job opportunities for me. But not this time round.
I wish I had not even watch it because it all it has done is to leave me sickened, besieged with so much anger and a sense of powerlessness.
The rule of law means that Obinim would need to be arraigned before a court, given the right to defend himself with the help of a lawyer, a possibly long trial during which time he can continuous to move about freely, a right to appeal if he is ever convicted and even the right for brainwashed followers to open a petition book to force the president to pardon him. Oh yes, that last one can happen too. My self-proclaimed reputation as a progressive person has been tainted because of Obinim.
Getting rid of Obinim, the lawful way, is complex and will take too much time. Some equally outraged social media users have talking about Shari ’a law (although with inaccurate interpretations) and the days of dictatorship in our country and how he would have ‘disposed of’ in all manner of ways ‘swiftly’. Despite not being born during the dictatorship periods, I long for, albeit ashamedly, that awful time my parents talk about. If we lived in those times, my mentor, the veteran journalist Elizabeth Ohene may not be alive but a part of me yearns for it.
Have we been ‘too democratic’? Is democracy too nice? Is this what people to the power looks like? Should we even be practising democracy?
ADVERTISEMENT
These are just a few of the questions flooding my mind. I will defer the answers to contemporary philosophers for they will be the best to theorise this conundrum. For now, I am finding comfort in the words of Jesse Jackson; ‘Deliberation and debate is the way you stir up the soul of a democracy’ in the hope that out of this, I will emerge a stronger democrat.
*Obinim claims the woman was not pregnant but had a ‘fibroid-like’ disease which he had healed by stomping on her stomach.
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
ADVERTISEMENT
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh
Recommended articles
Train accident photo posted on my social media pages is a photoshop - Peter Amewu
Court jails truck driver 6 months for causing Ghana's brand-new train accident
609 Ghanaians died in first 3 months of 2024 through road crashes - NRSA reveals
Stay in your parents' house while you do your NSS - Sammy Gyamfi advises graduates
Joseph Addo files nomination to contest as NPP Parliamentary aspirant for La Dadekotopon
Dumsor: ECG board members reject PURC GH¢5.8m fine
Woman who claims to have been taken to another world by dwarfs shares experience
Organised Labour threatens to strike May 2 over Tier-2 pension arrears
