Shortly after I got back to Ghana, I called my ex’s mother, just to say I was back, he already has a list of things he hates about me and didn’t want him to add the fact that I came back and didn’t call his poor sweet mother (she is far from helpless but that’s another story). Just like her son, her biggest concern was whether I got a job yet. I said I had, you would think the woman would say “oh thank God” or “well done”. Instead she said “Big money is coming”. She then went on to tell me about her church service that Sunday. There was a big kind of summit where all the Apostolic churches gathered to pray. Why? They prayed for the government to do something about the cash flow situation.

Now, the situation in Ghana is bad, the cedi is declining, businesses are struggling because they have to increase price, but the poor black man doesn’t have enough in his pocket to pay. However, when I go to church on Sunday I go to praise God and thank him for what he has done, a Hail Mary and an Our Father, then I’m out. I think God knows about the situation we have here, so one would presume it was rather unnecessary for a big old gathering to pray for money.

Alas, this is the state of the nation, the government is to blame for the mess and God is looked up to, to fix it. Now I am not saying all the Charismatic, Apostolic and Pentecostal churches are bad. I have been invited to a couple of services where I have listened to the word of God and it has really touched me. I especially enjoy the praise and worship at the beginning. However, there are dozens of churches all over Ghana and probably West Africa who rather than preach the word of God, pray for materialistic things like money, cars, a 6ft tall husband with a 5 bedroom car who drives a land cruiser. Yes, we do it in our heads, we say it out loud before bed, but I don’t know, it feels a bit greedy gathering all the churches in the neighbourhood for special prays, specifically for money.

They could just as easily use that same energy to gather at Parliament House and get the answers from the President and his band of merry ministers, it would probably be faster to. Let’s face it, I’m praying for a decent man and a satisfying job, Mrs X is praying that her husband the serial cheater will change, Mr X on the other hand is praying his wife would stop nagging. Miss Y is praying she passes her exams. Everybody is praying for something whether it is health, money or otherwise, but on a Sunday, we are supposed to gather and just say thank you. Just listen to the word, sing a couple of songs and go home. Even the good book said he rested on Sunday, so let him rest.

It is little wonder the Cedi is declining when instead of focusing the energy on finding ways to rebuild the currency, people are gathering for mass prayers then sitting and waiting for a miracle to come…smh