We Should Combat Popular Beliefs in Spirits, Juju & Religion

The fact that a disproportionately high number of Ghanaians believe in spirits, juju, religion and fetishism is not in
doubt.
The Daily Searchlight is ambivalent as to whether this belief in warranted or not. Frankly, we do not care. However,
we do become concerned, when these beliefs begins to exact prices in terms of lives.
Recently, two young men, one of them a minor, murdered a child at Kasoa in the Central region after watching a
televised program that led them to consult a fetish priest who claimed that he can secure miracles for them if they
bring human flesh.
That incident, horrendous as it seems, did not engender any public interest in finding out what these miracle
preachers were doing. No effort, it seems, was even made to find the sick individual who led them to murder.
The nation has again recorded the chilling case of a 40-year-old man, whose body was discovered in a bush.
The deceased, Mr Kwabena Tandoh, a resident of Assin-Tomfokro, had been seeking spiritual healing for a swollen
neck at a prayer camp in Akrampa. He was found dead in a bush under bizarre circumstances on Tuesday morning.
We believe, and in fact it is the case, that a solution for swollen neck ailment can only be found at a hospital, and not
at a prayer camp.
It is becoming increasingly clear that many Ghanaians suffer from the ‘ailment of misbelief’ that they can find
solutions to their very real and physical problems in the world of spirits, when this should not be the case.
This unfounded belief system has reached almost epidemic proportions, and needs to be confronted.
Religious symbolism has taken too deep a root in our nation, and unless confronted, would, undoubtedly, lead to
worse outcomes in future.
If you are sick, go to hospital. No amount of prayers would cure you, unless the underlying physical conditions are
addressed.
Then, one may support the cure with prayers.
(Editorial of the Daily Searchlight of 21 st February, 2025).