CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The involvement of the ‘ordained clergy’2 in politics is “linked to the issue of the relationship between the church and the state”3 which is complex, dicey, and very controversial but cannot be glossed over. These questions are often debated on, which are; should the church as a body seek to play a role in political affairs or shun any involvement in politics and concentrate on its mission?” What about the individual clergy? Should they be encouraged to participate in politics or shun it? To what extent or level should their political participation be? Is it justifiable for the clergy to participate in politics? It is hoped that this research will unearth the theological justification for the clergy’s participation in politics.
The issue of the church and the ordained clergy’s involvement in nation building and especially through politics cannot be taken for granted since it is believed that politics is a way of life and a way of seeking the wellbeing of the people of the society through governance; so, all citizens including the clergy ought to be involved. It is important to know and understand here as noted by Kudadjie and Aboagye-Mensah in their book, “that doing politics or involvement in politics means “both the active engagement with possible holding of a political office, and the ordinary exercise of one’s civic rights relating to the machinery of government.”4
2 The term Ordained Clergy is used in the context of this research to mean Reverend Minister of the Historic Mainline Churches and other well established Churches with fully established institutional structures and who are also fully recognized or are part of the Christian Council of Ghana or Ghana Pentecostal Council. 3S. Waje. Kunhiyop, African Christian Ethics, Nairobi: Hippo Books, 2008, 83.
4 J. N. Kudadjie and R. K. Aboagye-Mensah, Christian Social Ethics, Accra, Asempa Publishers, 2004, 49.
In our Ghanaian society, there seems to be a public opinion that to suggest that it is wrong for the ordained clergy to participate in national politics especially in the historic mainline churches namely the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Methodist Church Ghana, the Evangelical Presbyterian and the Anglican Church, Roman Catholic Church. The rest are some churches that belong to the Christian Council of Ghana and other well-established and known Pentecostal and Charismatic Church such as Church of Pentecost, Apostolic Church, and Assemblies of God etc.
Long before the 4th Republic of Ghana, the church and its leaders played active roles in nation building, though the process has not been rosy. Pobee notes that, “the churches have contributed solidly to the progress of Africans and Ghana.”5 The church as a religious body is one of the important institutional structures making up the total social system. In Africa as opined by Pobee, most of the communal activities and other social institutions of African people are inextricably bound up with religion and the spirit –world. It is clearly therefore agreeable when Pobee said that, “political life is laced with religion.”6 This means also that, the ordained clergy’s pastoral responsibilities are laced with civic responsibility.
Nevertheless some clergymen and women have being playing various roles in Ghana’s politics since her independence to date as their forms of civic duties. They have done that mostly in spiritual support such as through prayer and fasting, promoting peace before, during and after elections, serving in advisory capacity, advocacy, making inputs and commenting on government policies and decisions7 hence, considering the ‘dual citizenship
5 J. S. Pobee, Religion and Politics in Ghana, Accra: Asempa Publishers, Christian Council of Ghana 1991, 15.
6 J. S. Pobee, Religion and Politics in Ghana, 11.
7 F. Acheampong, Religion and Politics in Ghana’s 4th Republican elections 1992-2008, thesis presented to the University of Ghana-Legon, Accra, June 2010, 2.
nature’ of the Christian arising from being a person and being a Christian8, the clergy as a Christian has both civic responsibility as a citizen and religious duties which have some sort of political component.
As indicated by Walls and Ross, the church has a mission to fulfill and these are noted as ‘five marks of mission.’ The fulfillment of this mission is co- spearheaded by both the lay and the clergy for the total good of the nation in which the constituents of the church membership also tumbles. Three of the marks of mission as noted by Ross in the introduction which are; (i) to respond to human need by loving service (ii) to seek to transform unjust structures of the society and (iii) to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth9 are also part of seeking the welfare of society that form part of national governance and politics.
In co- directing the church’s mission, the clergy end up fulfilling dual roles, thus seeing to fulfill the mission of the church and engaging in civic responsibilities that are also part of national politics. The clergy’s involvement in national politics and at the same time fulfilling the pastoral responsibility shows integral interlink even though the political involvement to some extent could be seen as pastoral responsibility. There is therefore a correlation between the two entities. Could there be theological basis for correlating the ministerial or pastoral calling of the clergy with their participation in national politics as far as the church’s mission to the society is concerned? This research apparently seeks to find out the theological basis for such correlations.
8 Kudadjie and Aboagye-Mensah, Christian Social Ethics, 1.
9 A. Walls and C. Ross ed., Mission in the Twenty-first Century; Exploring the five Marks of Global Mission, (London, Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd 2008), xiv.
Today, there are clergymen whose utterances, deportment and role being played as part of their pastoral and civic responsibility depict that they have non-negligible responsibility towards national building and governance as far as national politics is concerned. Consider Rev. Prof Emmanuel Martey whose recent utterances generated a lot of political controversies in the media while he was in the seat as the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and has been perceived as bidding the mandate of a political party other than being neutral and commenting genuinely. Pastor Dr. Mensah Otabil is noted as being too and unnecessarily hard on one party and being in bed with the other; the same can be said about Bishop Duncan Williams, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Kwaku Asante, who is serving as the Chairman for the Ghana Peace Council and Rev. Owusu Bempah who is also noted for giving constant prophesies against one political party and in favor of the other, etc.
