An Open Letter to Ministers of Religion

Re: Abuse @ Prayer Camps

I would not normally write a letter to genuine ministers of religion, seeking their help to stamp out a very obscene and dangerous phenomenon of Prayer camps which have become centres for gross abuse of the vulnerable in our society. Recently a so called pastor, James Nana Akwasi Agyeman , Founder of Shiva Linga Church, has been arrested and charged with defiling and abusing eight very young children aged between 3 and 12 years at his prayer. camp. This story and other revelations about the happenings at these prayer camps are probably the tip of the iceberg and are becoming very disturbing indeed.

Although a couple of years ago the wife of a cousin of mine died at one of these camps where she had been taken to get cured from some sort of illness, I would not have understood or realised the extent of this serious problem engulfing Ghanaian society, if I had not by chance , whilst travelling to various towns in the country accidentally come across some of these camps recently. Most people I have spoken to tell me they are now all over the place normally on the outskirts of towns and cities. The first time I came across one was in July 2007 just off the Accra – Winneba Road near Kasoa where a friend was showing me around a farm land he has just acquired. The second time was in a village on the Accra Nsawam Road and the recent one was in early February this year when I came across one just off the new Pantang- Peduase Road leading to the Akwapim foothills when a vendor was showing me a piece of farming land I was interested in. In some of these places, outwardly everything look serene and Christian whilst within the practices bares all the hallmarks of diabolism and fetishism. Most of these godforsaken places are normally a clearings in the bush or in the forest with makeshift buildings and furniture where some of the leaders and their followers reside on a twenty four hour basis. The last place I saw just was a bit of patched earth under a huge Nim Tree with wooden stakes and pieces of cloth and tarpaulin used to fence it off from the access road.

I know Ghana is a SECULAR STATE with different types of religions co existing peacefully side by side for many years. However we all know that the Christian denomination is the largest and the owners of these prayer camps subscribe to this denomination. I also know there are a lot of sincere religious people but there are those who have entered the church fold for sake of whatever gain they could make and I think these people should be challenged if their actions are negatively impacting on the general good of society.

Many many decades ago we were converted from paganism, .and inspite of the fact that in the main we have been under the civilizing influence of the Christian religion for over a hundred years, It is unfortunate that the current general CONFUSION of ideas on religion. which currently exists in our society is allowing these perverse people, who now own prayer camps, trokosi shrines and “witches” camps, to take advantage once again of the opportunity to renewing much of their own pagan beliefs and rites and have connected these practices to the Christian religion to gain acceptance. It appears the superstitious practices of old (associated with “Okomfo tweenie” and shrine) which were dying a natural death are being revived and once again flourishing at these prayer camps and making a mockery of religion. Today in our country, as a result of religious MANIA of the wrong type this disturbing phenomenon of child and emotional abuse of vulnerable adults have taken a new lease of life in some of these questionable religious establishments. These people are now preying on the credulity of their gullible flock which sadly includes many children who are the future of the country and should therefore have been protected by the state.
Anecdotal evidence shows that some of these camps have become centres of gross abuse of not only children but other vulnerable people in our society ( the youth, the disabled, the infirm and illiterate adults).. The amazing thing is some of these followers stand in awe of these LEECHES or what I will call perverse religious leaders. On the basis of the stories coming out of these places am convinced they have become not only places where children are regularly abused but places where pagan practices have been covered with a veneer of Christianity cloaked and disguised as religious revival fellowships.
I was shocked at the number of people involved in this industry and the practices that go on there on a regular basis. From the little that I saw and have been told by people who have experienced activities at these camps, despicable things are happening to our children and we must wake up. I was also shocked to learn about the fact that nearly all the customs, ideas, words and observances associated with these gatherings and their practices are no different from the superstitious practices of the idolators and fetish worshippers of old. The leaders of these revivalists camps apart from physically, sexually (bathing naked women) and emotionally abusing their captive audiences, claim to be able to exorcise ghosts and “devils” that are haunting afflicted persons, and also to cure the sick by anointing them with special mixtures, usually of the foul and evil smelling description. Those who have seen the ceremonies by which these demons are supposed to be cast out and sickness to be cured, recognise that even , in describing them does not exaggerate the facts.
Some of us have now deduced the fact that the owners of these places are nothing less than RASCALS who are not only doing much to frustrate the efforts made by the first missionaries and educationalists who brought us the Christian religion and education over the past fifty years, but causing emotional harm to people. These rascals are nothing but the reincarnation of the traditional priests of old who in the old traditional setting practised their fetish rites and thrived on deception, magic, witchcraft and sorcery and above all poisons to manipulate weak minds. Whilst these new prayer camp owners unsettle the understanding of their followers by inculcation into them their rather crude notions of religious practices, which borders on paganism they often to acquire influence that enables them to levy contributions (money) on the fears of their more timid followers.
I am told ceremonies normally consist of a few men and mostly their women followers and their children exciting themselves, speaking in what they describe as “tongues” whilst singing hymns aloud, calculated to stimulate the emotions and whipping themselves and everybody else into a frenzy, jumping like kangaroos and supposedly falling into sometimes violent trances whilst extortions and abuse take place..
When you witness these leaders orchestrating these dramas it is very common to notice that the essence of all that goes on consists of words, incantations and simple gestures and actions calculated to deceive. The incantations supposedly mystic, are generally the muttering of strange sounds, often meaningless, the pronouncing of some jumbled words, joined with some grotesque actions. Trust me the thing itself is worse than any picture of it could be painted, and it is no wonder that some of us want to know whether these practices should be tolerated by a modern forward looking society.
My dear religious people I am not sure whether you would agree with me but I believe that the claim to cast off demons by these rascals, to heal diseases by anointing with oil and incantations, is really a form of FRAUD and SUPERSTITION pure and simple. This became obvious to me and everyone when thereafter the healing or miracle never materialises but believed by some of these victims who I will describe as the willingly deluded. From this you can easily understand how any rascal who wants to gratify his avarice or lust can use these camps to jump upon these superstitious practices under the guise of Christianity and get a following as a “Man of God”. The down side is the damage that is being done to our fellow citizens. According to a reliable source sometimes these self styled religious leaders have even sometimes resorted to administering dangerous potions and poisons as panaceas to various illnesses, ailments and disabilities some of which have led to fatalities but have not been held to account.
True men of God like your selves must oppose these practices because in most cases these they encourages all forms of superstition and harmful pagan practices which are detrimental. Is this sort of thing not a bad effect upon the minds and morals of the children and younger generation who witness the happenings there? No doubt on campuses of secondary and third tier institutions significant numbers of our youth( University Students) now attend these camps and believe in occult forces and this is where the Government should be worried and start doing something about this menace. I must say I am somewhat surprised about Government’s attitude to camps of abuse and their inaction on this front, given that some NGO’s and Human Rights groups have been campaigning for years for the abolishment and outlawing of other odious camps for Witches and the “Trokosi” Women.
If the Government wont act, I believe you must act. Tens of thousands of people are suffering in these camps and the people who perpetrate this vile form of manipulation must be challenged by all you good religious men out there. Having witness some of the manipulations that go on, I believe the perpetrators must be punished by laws just as severe as those which we attach to the convicted murderer. I believe in a society where persons without character or of doubtful views and make upon their minds an impression that may be dictated by superstitious or religious fanaticism should not be given the chance to misuse and abuse children and even sometimes kill in the name of religion.
We ought to have a quicker more effective action to deal with these evils and such action means legislation and I hope that it will not be impossible. It will have to be the Parliamentarians however who MUST try their hands at framing legislation to suppress the practices complained of. May be licensing should be considered as an option. I hope that after that, the Attorney General, the Police and Media will be equal to the task of pursuing and bringing to justice these wolves in sheep clothing who have become a danger to society.
Genuine men of God, this evil you must fight and help eradicate. These people are making a mockery of religion and you must help put a stop to their nefarious practices before it is too late. You ought to START campaigning against the practices at these prayer camps, be it trokosi or witches camps and stop the owners for good. It is your duty as genuine ministers of religion of the faith to unite to crush these ignorant , prancing steppers, or howling windbags, men too LAZY TO WORK, self styled “shepherds” determined to make a mess of Christianity and other religions for selfish ends.