Vincent Kwabena Damuah

Vincent Kwabena Damuah (* 1930 ; † August 1992 ) (also: Osofo Okomfo Damuah or Osofo Komfo Kwabena Damuah ) was a leading Catholic priest, theologian and politician in the West African state of Ghana . During Jerry Rawlings' second military dictatorship , Damuah was a member of the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) provisional government .

Damuah was the founder of the Afrikania Mission , a religious national movement with strong political principles and goals. The foundation of the Afrikania Mission is said to have taken place in December 1982. Other sources name the Catholic priest Osofo Okomfo Damuah as the founder of the Afrikania Mission in 1985. This person is believed to be the same. ( Osofo is the Twi designation for a Christian priest, Okomfo denotes a traditional priest who, in contrast to Obosomfo, is not possessed by deities ).

Priesthood

Damuah served as a Roman Catholic priest between 1957 and 1982. His retirement from the priesthood was pursued by the Church when Damuah joined the PNDC under Jerry Rawlings. Damuah then founded the Afrikania Mission in December 1982. This movement was not only politically motivated, but aimed at a return to a modern traditional African religion as a pan-African religion with the status of a world religion.

As a young priest, Damuah was briefly imprisoned during the reign of President Kwame Nkrumah for criticizing the regime of Ghana's first president. This criticism of the regime was triggered by Nkrumah's plans to establish the Ghana Young Pioneers (GYP), a propaganda group, in schools. The Ghana Young Pioneers carried glorifying propaganda of the person of the president to the population, which, from the point of view of Christians, equated Nkrumah with Jesus Christ. These motto were, for example: Nkrumah dies never (German: Nkrumah never dies) or Nkrumah does no wrong (German: Nkrumah is never wrong). Nkrumah had expelled the Anglican bishop and chairman of the Christian Council in Ghana, Bishop Reginald Richard Roseveare, who had publicly criticized his government. Damuah, for his part, criticized the bishop's expulsion and was imprisoned as a critic of the regime. Damuah was only released from custody at the instigation of high Ghanaian clerics.

Politician

Damuah was already politically active during his time as a priest. He opposed the Catholic Church as early as 1979 during the military rule of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) when he publicly advocated the execution of three former heads of state. Damuah became known through the following saying:

We do not love those executed less but we love our country more. Why all the fuss about execution? I believe that the AFRC has the right to exact capital punishment for the common good of the country. We hope and pray that the number is not too large. Christ died on the cross to save mankind. We hope and pray that those who have to die, accept the challenge courageously and prayerfully to save Ghana.

(Eng .: We love the executed no less, but we love our country more. Why so fuss about the executions? I believe the AFRC has the right to impose even the highest penalties for the good of the country. We hope and pray the number may not be too high. Christ died on the cross for the good of humanity. We hope and pray that those who die may courageously and devotedly accept their task for the good of Ghana.)

Damuah was seen as a supporter and friend of the military dictator Jerry Rawlings and shared his anti-Western and sometimes anti-Christian ideologies. After the second coup by Rawlings on December 31, 1981, Damuah was a member of the initially seven-member PNDC and consequently a member of the Ghana's provisional government. In November 1982 he resigned from this office.

Fonts

• Introduction to traditional religion: Afrikania Reformed African Traditional Religion , Religious text, Afrikania Mission, 1988, 2nd edition
• African Contribution to Civilization , Accra: Nsamankow Press, 1985. http://www.barnard.edu/religion/postscripts/Postscripts_1-2_1-3.pdf
• Afrikania Handbook . Accra: Nsamankow Press, 1982.
• Afrikania (Reformed Traditional Religion) . Common Sense Series 8. Accra: Afrikania Mission, 1984.
• African Contribution to Civilization . Accra: Nsamankow Press, 1985.

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} Postscripts, page 280, Afrikania Mission
2. ↑ Afrikania Mission
3. ↑ National Reconciliation Council Volume 4, Chapter 9, page 412
4. ^ Ghanaweb
5. ↑ Afrikania Mission, online engl.
6. ↑ ^{a b c} National Reconciliation Council, Volume 1, Chapter 4, page 39
7. ↑ ^{a b} National Reconciliation Council, Volume 4, Chapter 9, page 438
8. ^ Resignation Damuah

See also

• List of Ghanaian politicians

Web links

• National Reconciliation Council , engl.
• Afrikania Mission , engl.