Reverend John Ntim Fordjour
Deputy Minister of Education, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, has taken a swipe at Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen over his recent religious comment.
Alan had suggested that with majority of Ghanaians being Christians, they should vote for a Christian with a Christ-like lifestyle to become President, when he attended a church service during the Easter festivities.
This suggestion of the former Trade Minister who resigned from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to form his Movement for Change (MFC) political party, after woefully failing to secure his flagbearership position, is widely considered an indirect attack on incumbent Bawumia, since he is the only Muslim seeking to become President.
This is what seems to have provoked the Deputy Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin South, to make nonsense of Alan’s suggestion, since he considers it stereotyping.
This was when Vice President Bawumia, who is also the flagbearer of the NPP in the upcoming 2024 general elections, went to cut the sod for the construction of a four-storey 200-capacity hostel for the Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra yesterday.
The Deputy Minister, who is also an ordained man of God, when asked to introduce Dr. Bawumia who was the special guest of honour for the event, said those religious stereotypes were dangerous and unhelpful since God could anoint anyone, irrespective of their religion to fulfil His will and purpose for the people.
Rev. Fordjour described Dr. Bawumia as a clear example of a Muslim Vice President, whom God used to fulfil the aspirations of the Trinity Theological Seminary of having a hostel facility for pastor trainees.
“The benevolence of Alhaji Bawumia, a Muslim Vice President, has brought joy to the heart of the Christian Community. God used a Muslim Vice President to bring this dream to pass,” was how he put it.
For him, “it is a demonstration of the fact that God is not a respecter of persons and can use anyone or citizen to bring to pass his will for his people, and bring prosperity to the country.”
Rev. Fordjour referenced Isaiah Chapter 45, where God used King Cyrus, who was the ruler of Persia to help the Israelites to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which was in ruins.
He also mentioned King Hiram of Tyre, whom God used to support King David to build a palace.
He said, “God can use anyone to bring prosperity to His people and His will to pass. This must shut the tendencies of religious stereotypes as some are trying to tread.”
The Deputy Minister again cited a scenario at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), when he was a student, where a Muslim SRC President facilitated the construction of a decent place of worship for the students.
He, therefore, admonished those in the habit of stereotyping to stop it, since the ways of God are not the ways of men and ordinary mortals.
Meanwhile, the four-storey hostel facility would be completed within 14 months, with funding from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), in partnership with the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), and the Office of the Vice President.
Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony, Dr. Bawumia said the hostel would provide a conducive accommodation for the students to study.
He said under his administration, he would usher in a golden age of partnership between government and private religious organisations to improve infrastructure development in the country.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu