writes Jeff Haynes
Africa-Press – Ghana. Ghana is one of the continent’s most well-established democracies, but this secular institution is increasingly under the influence of the non-secular.
On 6 March 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence from colonial rule. Ghana’s escape from British control was a significant event in Africa’s decolonisation process. The country became a cultural touchstone for other African nations from which to pursue their own independence.
Today, 68 years later, Ghana remains a regional trailblazer, one of the very few African countries with a long tradition of liberal democracy. It has been a democracy since 1992, following a decade of military-based rule, under the leadership of Flt-Lt Jerry John Rawlings.
Ghana’s liberal democratic constitution is a secular framework that guides interactions between the state and citizens and outlines the parameters of governance. According to recent Afrobarometer data, most Ghanaians appreciate the political benefits of liberal democracy and accompanying freedoms. Politically active religious figures and organisations generally stick to the rules of the democratic game. If they do not, they are likely to lose popular legitimacy and be accused of behaving illegally.
Ghana’s constitution forbids the formation of political parties based on religion (or ethnicity). Neither do Ghana’s political parties couch their appeals in overtly religious terms, although they frequently refer to religion and religious believers in electoral appeals. In order to extend their electoral appeal, Ghana’s political parties, including the most prominent, the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress, work tirelessly to build and maintain good relations with both Christian and Muslim leaders.
Liberal democracy and ‘soft’ theocracy
Ghana is a nation that takes religion very seriously; more than 90 per cent of Ghanaians profess membership of a religious faith. Most (71.3 per cent) are Christians, a fifth (19.9 per cent) are Muslims, 3 per cent follow African Traditional Religions and 6 per cent belong to other religious groups or have no religious belief.
Ghana’s churches, notably the country’s numerous Pentecostalist-Charismatic churches, stress the importance of incorporating into public life what they regard as Christian values in order to induce better governance. Some churches fear that modernisation encourages secularisation, resulting in an undesirable loss of traditional culture and associated values. ‘Alien’ external influences from the West are thought to discourage Ghana’s traditional values, especially among the young, who may adopt unwelcome ‘foreign’ lifestyles. On the other hand, there is no evidence that the young in Ghana are becoming less religious. Pew Research Centre reports that, along with Chad, Ghana is one of only two countries in sub-Saharan Africa where religion is more important to younger people than it is to older people. Given that three-quarters of Ghanaians are aged 35 years are younger, religion does not appear to be in danger of losing popular adherence.
In a recent paper, Fonu, Asravor, Sackey, and Obuobisa-Darko argued that religious beliefs significantly influence most Ghanaians’ moral framework and social identity, individual attitudes and preferences, and impacts on socioeconomic outcomes. Most Ghanaians do not regard religion as a separate entity; that is, they do not accept a clear distinction between ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ but see them entwined in everyday life. Ghanaians pragmatically combine and/or move between different spiritual discourses to navigate the travails of modernisation, with the objective of trying to protect themselves from harm. Overall, religion in Ghana influences various aspects of daily life, from personal beliefs and behaviours to social and political dynamics.
Christianity has long been the most significant religious voice in Ghana. Following independence, the chief Christian voices came from the historic mission churches (including Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana; Anglican Church; Roman Catholic Church; and Methodist Church, Ghana). More recently, a significant new Christian tradition developed in Ghana. Pentecostal-Charismatic (P-C) churches now account for around a third of Ghana’s 25 million Christians. P-C leaders, including Eric Nyameke (Church of Pentecost), Stephen Wengam (Assemblies of God Ghana), Nicholas Duncan-Williams (Action Chapel International) and Dag Heward Mills (Lighthouse Group of Churches) are prominent in public discourse in Ghana.
Ghana’s 1992 constitution is silent on the topic of religious leaders commenting on political issues, including crucial topics, such as liberal democracy and human rights. However, many Ghanaians would be flabbergasted if their religious leaders did not speak out on prominent political and social issues, given the former’s societal prominence. This may simply be a case of religious leaders speaking as private citizens, seeking to make their personal views known on topical issues, which is of course, perfectly acceptable for all citizens in a democracy. In addition, religious leaders may claim institutional justification for their public pronouncements in order to acquire increased gravity and authority.
Professor Kwame Karikari, former Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, recently wrote in the foreword he contributed, Christian Nationalism and Democracy in Ghana: ‘The most significant social movement with implications for the country’s general development is the triumph of Christian evangelism. It is especially noteworthy for its overwhelming influence over governments and its almost complete dominance of the public space: ideologically, culturally, and socially.’
In the United States, the ‘triumph of Christian evangelism’ has led to what some describe as a ‘soft’ theocracy, a situation which Dare Leke Odowu argues has also occurred in Ghana’s neighbour, Nigeria. A soft theocracy is characterised by a regime ‘where religion is deeply intertwined in government legally, financially and symbolically’. Ghana’s constitution recognises the legal right to religious freedom, with religious bodies not subject to state scrutiny or control. Financially, the Ghana Revenue Authority recognises that churches exist to serve the public’s spiritual and charitable needs and exempts them from income tax. Symbolically, Ghana’s national anthem commences with: ‘God bless our homeland Ghana’ and ends with ‘And under God march on forevermore’. The Preamble to the 1992 constitution begins with the following: ‘IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD’.
The trajectory to ‘soft’ theocracy in Ghana was actively encouraged by successive governments over the last 15 years. John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills, professor of law at the University of Ghana and Jerry John Rawlings’s vice president, was a Charismatic Christian who became president in 2009. Atta-Mills instituted a state-sponsored ‘National Day of Prayer’, to the delight of influential Christians. In addition, Atta-Mills encouraged Christian and Muslim prayers at state functions and removed a long-standing tradition: pouring of libation by a priest of indigenous traditional religion, regarded as a major symbol of ‘paganism’.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, president between 2017 and 2025, made what Professor Karikari calls ‘the most dramatic overture to the promotion of the Christian movement with his promise to construct a “national cathedral”, costing tens of millions of US dollars’. Akufo-Addo’s relationships with prominent Christian figures were conspicuous, while his extensive use of Christian symbolism had not been seen before in Ghana. Akufo-Addo’s singular political campaign slogan in both 2012 and 2016 was ‘The battle is the Lord’s’. This, too, was a goal of influential Christians: to make Ghana a country where Christianity dominates, religiously, politically, socially, and culturally. Akuffo-Addo’s successor as president, John John Dramani Mahama, Atta-Mills’s vice-president, reinstated the ‘National Day of Prayer’ as one of his first acts on acceding to the presidency in January 2025.
A growing number of Ghanaians regard the political rise of Christian evangelism with dismay. Their fear is that Ghana is a ‘soft’ theocracy which threatens the country’s long tradition of secular liberal democracy, gravely undermines the human rights of some Ghanaians, including those of the LGBTQ+ community, and menaces Ghana’s historic commitment to religious pluralism. Religion is important to Ghanaians, but so is liberal democracy.
LSE
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