Ah, the land of unending prayers and divine interventions. Who needs factories, cinema halls, and schools when you can just pray your way to riches, right? After all, it's common knowledge that prosperity and progress are best achieved by spending every waking moment in deep, uninterrupted prayer.
You see, Africans have mastered the art of prayer to such an extent that they might soon petition to turn their clinics and hospitals into divine healing centers. Why pay for medical treatments when a good old-fashioned prayer session can cure all your ills, right? God works in mysterious ways, or so they say. Maybe the divine creator of the universe is waiting for a more sincere, heartfelt rendition of "Amazing Grace" before bothering with Ghana's healthcare woes.
But let's get real for a moment. How do we measure God's interest in our prayers? Well, it's simple. We assess it by the quality of our roads, the conditions in our hospitals, the number of days we sleep in darkness, and the accessibility to quality education. If you find yourself driving over pothole-riddled roads, that's just God's way of saying, "Keep praying, my child." If you end up sleeping on the cold, hard floors of a hospital, it's because you haven't prayed hard enough yet. And if quality education remains a privilege rather than a right, well, clearly, we need to channel our devotion to a higher level.
The truth is, Ghana, and Africa in general, has a reputation for being deeply religious, and while faith is a beautiful thing, it's not a substitute for practical, well-thought-out plans and hard work. No country in the world has ever achieved development by fervently praying alone. Praying for prosperity is like trying to nourish yourself with thoughts and prayers instead of a hearty meal. You may feel satisfied temporarily, but you'll quickly realize you're still quite hungry. And as for those who expect manna to fall from the sky, well, I hate to break it to you, but it's been a while since that delivery service was operational.
Fellow Ghanaians, while your devotion to prayer is admirable, it's high time to take a step back and consider that perhaps our solutions lie in our own hands, not just in the hours we spend on our knees. Development and progress come from planning, hard work, and practical solutions. Let's reserve those cinematic prayer sessions for the truly divine moments and put our hands to work for the rest. After all, it's time to remind ourselves that, in the real world, prosperity doesn't magically descend from the heavens.
Desmond John Beddy
Africans are known to be incurable religious and Ghanaians are notoriously religious
Photo by ABEL MARQUEZ auf Unsplash
