Dr. Valerie Sawyerr writes 'Commando of the Abattoir'

Aaaaaa, ooooh, eeeeeei, aaaooow!

Maaba, ad?n, nuké, yaa ya, why?

Are we goats, sheep, cows, or are we chickens?

Is Ghana now an abattoir (slaughter house)?

I heard wailing and gnashing of teeth at Ayawaso West Wuogon on January 31, 2019. The by-election left many unanswered questions and unresolved mysteries:

Is it true that masked, heavily armed men masqueraded as authentic security personnel riding in military grade vehicles marked ‘Police SWAT’?

Is it true that they assaulted, shot at and brutalised Ghanaian citizens all in the name of Ayawaso West Wuogon by-elections?

Is it true that gunshots and bullets found their resting place in human flesh as the blood flowed on the streets of La-Bawaleshie?

Is it true that at least ten persons were rushed to the Legon and 37 Military hospitals?

Is it true that Sam George (MP) was violently assaulted and threatened with words like ‘remember that there are stray bullets’?

Is it true that Edem Agbana, NDC Deputy National Youth Organiser, was brutally assaulted at Legon?

Is it true that Harvey, brother of the NDC Deputy National Women’s Organiser, was brutalised until he lost consciousness with blood oozing out of his mouth?

Is it true that Maame Afua, NDC Deputy Women’s Organiser, was badly manhandled?

Is it true that Kate, NDC Women’s Organiser for Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, was assaulted? … and still counting …

I weep this morning, my heart is heavy, I pray for the wounded ones, I pray for their families, I pray for the NDC, I pray for the nation. Lord, hear my prayer and let my cry come onto thee!

Then I ask - where are the voices of reason in this nation?

Being a Presbyterian at a time when the Charismatic revival took place in Ghana, I defied all odds to join the Charismatics and to worship as a Charismatic Pentecostal. No one understood me in my home, but I had had a Saul to Paul spiritual encounter and no one could stop me.

They asked why I was joining one of the ‘corner churches’ or ‘mushrooming churches’ when persons of dignity were in the orthodox churches. I was put under severe pressure by any means necessary to stop attending ‘that church’.

Those were very different days from today. Today, it is fashionable to attend Charismatic Churches, well decked out, and worship in nice big buildings with high social status.

Our time was a time of spiritual warfare when you had to defy all kinds of forces (physical and spiritual) to worship as a Charismatic, but with my usual passion and zeal for tackling matters, I burst into it with power and with might.

I defied my parents, defied friends, defied social status, defied everything defiable. After a short stint at the Legon Pentecostal Church while on campus, I moved to Action Chapel on the advice of my spiritual mother, Olivia.

We met for services under a canopy behind the premises of the airport duty free shop. We moved to trade fair … we moved to the Teachers’ Hall … we moved back to the duty free premises … then we moved to Spintex road.

When we moved as a group to pray on the land on which the Action Chapel stands now it was a mini forest. We walked through thick bush to bless and sanctify the land wondering where the money would come from to build the church. The vision was big but our faith was bigger.

The struggle called for days of fasting and prayer. I could attend all-night services four or five times a week. Apologies to those who attend one all-night prayer service a week today and think the world should bow and call them holy. I smile, casting my mind back to days on campus when we would be rudely awoken at 4.30am by a gentleman shouting at the top of his voice, in what was known as a ‘dawn broadcast’. He would parade the inside lane of Volta Hall calling all out to Christianity and ‘born-againism’. He would not limit his calls to generality and the word of God. He would call our names and our room numbers and literally castigate us. For example, Sybil your hair is your vanity. If you do not change your ways, you will end up in the lake of fire. Sybil had very long and beautiful hair. Needless to say, Volta Hall especially those who he had lambasted on a particular morning, would rain insults on him as they murmured amongst themselves the whole day. Several times did we hear K3 being blasted during ‘dawn broadcast’. K3 was my room number at the time. That gentleman was Bishop Dag Heward Mills, overflowing with the power of the Holy Spirit and sometimes with emotions. I doubt if the ‘democratic dispensation’ will allow this violation of private space in this day and age. But compared to the brutality, violence and hooliganism being exhibited under President Akufo-Addo, that kind of spiritual privacy violation would seem like drops of sweet rain. Where are our Charismatic Churches, where are our Charismatic Leaders? Where are you? I am calling you because you are the ones I know in times of crisis. All my lessons from the Charismatic Church are still put to full use. I raise my hands in prayer, I blast in tongues, I worship, I praise, I battle in prayer in the spirit realm, and God never fails. In times of demonic pressure, I refuse to buckle. I have, with the help of God, stayed the course and trusted in Him to deliver. He has never failed me! I have heard some of you lambasting in the political world. I have heard some of you lambasting for national cathedrals. I have heard some of you lambasting this and that. Where are you, men of the Holy Ghost? Where are you when our land is burning? Where are your voices we cannot hear? I know you may be praying. That is good! Continue praying, but we want to hear you. We want to hear words of comfort from you, we want to hear words of discipline from you, we want to hear words of admonition from you, we want to hear words of encouragement in these times of darkness. Rise up and show yourselves as God-chosen leaders in the land. Please do not tell me this is an NPP/NDC matter. This is a national matter - a matter of crisis in the land that is escalating beyond acceptable proportions. Comfort us! Speak the word of peace to us! Give us hope! I have always been careful when commenting on Men of God as I remember the words of 1 Chronicles 16:22 – ‘touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm’. In remembering this verse, I thank God that Jesus was the true leader of his time. He spoke up against injustice, he spoke up against uncleanliness, he spoke up against indiscipline, he spoke up against spiritual wickedness in high places, he spoke, he spoke, he spoke … and the people listened. Today, I am calling you from the depth of my spirit to rise up and be counted in the land. Our blood is flowing, our tears are flowing, we need intercession, we need intervention, we need you to speak and call the nation to order since the President of the nation seems unable to do so. Rev. Dr. Ampiah Kwofie, Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Markwei, Bishop Charles Adjin Asare, Rev. Eastwood Anaba, Apostle General Sam Korankye Ankrah, Archbishop Duncan Williams, Bishop Dag Heward Mills - Where are you? Where are you?? Where are you??? Did I defy everyone in vain to be part of the Charismatic faith? Where are my fathers I run to when I defied my biological father? Where are you? I know you are good and brave men. Please stand and be counted in these dangerous times. Please do not wait till the situation degenerates further. … And if the men will not speak, where are our Charismatic Women Leaders? Where are you? Can you not see that the blood of your children is flowing on the streets of the land? Can you not hear the cries of the destitute echoing all over the land? Do you not have compassion and empathy for the violated? Where are you? Rev. Dr. Christie Doe Tetteh, Rev. Olivia Dotse, Rev. Adelaide Heward-Mills, Apostle Lyanne Kwofie! If I mentioned your name it means I hold you in very high esteem. Surely you cannot be afraid of the terror by night, nor the arrow that flieth by day; you cannot be afraid when the tempest rages or the billows are tossed high. Surely, the 19th century images of cowering Christians huddled in the colosseum awaiting their deaths at the hands of the lions cannot cower you into silence. How was the Christian church born? Was it not born from toil and tribulation? Where are you – our Charismatic leaders? Where are you as my heart bleeds? Where are the Daniels in the lion’s den; where are the Shadrachs, the Meshachs and the Abegnegos? When I was young I thought these were mere stories but as I grew up I realised they were not. They were men who stood up for the destiny of their people. I weep as I type these words. Where are our leaders? If the political leaders have failed us, where are our spiritual leaders? President Nana Addo, President Addo Dankwa, President Akufo Addo! While you are building a national cathedral supposedly for the advancement of Christianity in the land, you are presiding over a slaughter session of your citizens. You have become the Abattoir Commando, commanding what seems to be the ‘slaughtering, cutting, deboning and processing’ of precious lives. Will you complete the building of the national cathedral and find that you have no human beings left in Ghana to occupy it? Or maybe it is your intention that only NPP members will worship in the national cathedral? At the rate at which you are going, do you think the wounded will submit themselves to this kind of violation without defending themselves? The leadership of the NDC has spoken to NDC members to remain calm and to avoid reprisal attacks. Indeed, to avoid further slaughter, the leadership of the NDC withdrew the party’s participation in the elections and left the seat for the NPP. That is how far the NDC Party has gone to avoid violent reprisal clashes that could destroy the thin thread that Ghanaians are hanging onto under this ‘shambolistic’ government, knowing perfectly well that if reprisals occur the NDC members will be further terrorised, manhandled and thrown into jail while the powers that be will claim that they cannot identify the NPP terrorists who initiated the violence, even when their faces are clear on video for all to see. Mr. President! Mr. President! Mr President – how many times did I call you? My right hand is cupped behind my right ear and I have bent my head towards you as I call. President Akufo Addo wake up! Are you sleeping! Are you snoring! Search your conscience, search deep within your heart if you can find it, search the recesses of your sullied soul and find the sparks of goodness and democracy you seemed to understand and adhere to very, very long ago. We are waiting Mr. President! Your citizens are waiting! While we are at it, may I ask -

Is it true that after all this vandalism of human flesh and blood and hooliganism of the highest order, out of the 90,000 or so names on the Ayawaso West Wuogon voters’ register, less than 17,000 persons voted, i.e., barely 19%?

Is it true that after boycotting the elections at 10am on the day of voting, NDC lost the Ayawaso West Wuogon seat by only 6,000 votes, compared to 2016 when NDC lost that seat with over 10,000 votes?

In the midst of your abattoirism, Mr. President, the record speaks for itself. The people have spoken. They are totally dissatisfied with your governance style and skills. Apart from the hunger, the moaning and the groaning you have brought upon them, you are now maiming and brutalising them.

Mr. President, do you know the story of the king who woke up one day to find that he had no subjects? Ayooooo! Remember the words of Ling Yao - ‘a king exists for his people; without subjects rulers cannot exist’.

Also remember Proverbs 14:28 which says ‘in the multitude of people is the king’s honour; but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince’.

Mr. President, I challenge you to do the right thing to bring decency and honour to your term in office.

Oman Ghana … dué dué dué … dué ni amanehunu!!!