The controversy surrounding the two Gitmo detainees who were brought to be housed in Ghana by the United States is naturally dying off but the President of Ghana-John Dramani Mahama seems to be mounting a pointless argument grounded on his twisted understanding of compassion—as to why Ghanaians ought to fully accept his government’s housing of the detainees’ decision.
It makes a lot of political and intellectual sense for the President to be frank for once and say, we took these detainees as a result of international politics, diplomacy or our political relationship with America.
But to take most Ghanaians for idiots and erect a mediocre argument on the back of compassion with quotes from the Bible is offensively dishonest. Even if compassion was the reason for the President’s decision, why couldn’t America be compassionate by housing these detainees?
If anything at all, that was an opportunity for United States to correct the wrongs they’ve done these young men; the greatest form of compassion is for them to take these two in and offer them a new beginning in a developed country.
Following the mentioning of compassion at his recent Press Briefing, President Mahama took to twitter yesterday with a biblical quote, reminding Ghanaians about the need to be compassionate to others.
He wrote; “Matthew 25:35-40 tells us: For I was hungry & you gave me something to eat…I was a stranger and you invited me in.”
Matthew 25:35-40 tells us: For I was hungry & you gave me something to eat…I was a stranger and you invited me in. https://t.co/RD6pK9meyP
— John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) January 13, 2016
That’s a brilliant quote from the Bible if you are a credulous Christian; because the same Bible has several passages which can be quoted to support why Ghana should not have housed these detainees.
Has the President not come across;
Proverbs 26:17 which talks about minding your own business? “Interfering in someone else’s argument is as foolish as yanking a dog’s ears.”
What about “1 Peter 4:15; If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs.”
The greatest teaching of Christianity and in fact of all religions is to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’—and this does not in anyway translate into ‘loving your neighbour more than yourself.’
Therefore, Ghanaians have every right to worry about their safety first and not put the safety of a neighbour before theirs.
It’s obvious these two Al-Qaeda linked Gitmo detainees were accepted in a political deal and has nothing to do with the United States failure to appreciate the value of compassion or Ghana’s sudden interest in becoming the fountainhead of compassion in the world.
Honesty is equally an entrenched religious virtue and President Mahama’s incessant splashing of compassion over the conversation without being candid about the rational behind his actions makes him nothing more than a demagogue—riding on the genuine religious compassion of Ghanaians for a political decision devoid of this.