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The Prophet part 6
Mary picked up the phone after it had rung the fifth time. It was Suzzie.
“Are you still sleeping, Mary? I told you we should be at his place before five.”
“I’m ready. I was in Betty’s room.”
“I hope she wasn’t preaching another long sermon. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“It was very short, but one that we need to discuss. I’m waiting for you.”
Within some 30 minutes they had approached Antubam’s compound.
“Now,” Suzzie said, “you don’t have to say anything if you are confused. Just leave the talking to me. We need to make as much money as possible from this thief in the next few days, and leave. I’m sure he will buy all the suggestions, and give us the money. We should make good profit from these transactions, trust me.”
They entered the compound, just as Antubam was leading Abena Grace out of his room.
“Good morning, Osofo,” Mary said.
‘Hello, my beautiful ladies. I hope you are well, and I hope everything is okay.”
“Everything is fine, Osofo.”
“Please give me just a few minutes’. He led Abena Grace to the street, and was there for over 20 minutes to get back, obviously due to the difficulty of getting a taxi for her.”
“Osofo,” Suzzie began, we would like to make some suggestions about things that need to be done, since the church is now growing impressively. We have listed a few things, and we would like you to consider them in order of priority.”
“I am so grateful to you, Suzzie and Mary, for your support. I really appreciate your help in securing the bank account, and your honesty. My only worry is that even though you are supposed to be my wives, you are yet to fulfill your duties in the most important department. I hope you are not feeling jealous because of those, er, ladies.”
“Of course not, Osofo. We accept the fact that the demands of your work are very heavy, and you need something to relax your mind and body. Please be assured that when we get everything fully established, we will take very good care of you, especially when we travel with you to preach on radio stations in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi.”
“That sounds very interesting. Now, let me hear your ideas, especially about the radio stations.”
“Osofo, your church is expanding at a fast rate, and you need to move into a decent house all by yourself, which is comfortable and spacious enough for your status, and for the kind of visitors you will soon be entertaining. And of course, we must furnish the house.
We must also, as a temporary measure, buy some decent chairs for the church, and make some temporary structures to make the place look attractive. And Osofo, you must buy a car in the next few weeks. Apart from your new status, you will be travelling widely soon, and you must…….” All these sounded like music in his ears.
“Thank, you, Suzzie, thank you so much. You know, I have thought of all these, but quite frankly, there simply is no time. Why don’t you make a list of these items, and get some prices, so that we get them done as quickly as possible. And let’s start work on them today. If we make some money available every day or two, we should get them done in good time,”
“We have done, exactly that, Osofo. Here you are.”
“Great. Look, I’ll leave this with you. I already trust you for the way you have started running things. Let’s start after church today, shall we?”
“Okay, Osofo. We’ll do some cleaning and cooking whilst you get ready for church.”
“Thank you ladies. And I am looking forward to spending enjoyable evenings with you.”
“We are also looking forward to it, man of God.”
“Now,” Suzzie said after Antubam had gone to the bathroom, “let’s clean the place and cook something for this dirty thief who thinks we will ever allow him to touch us.”
“You obviously dislike him,” Mary said, but you like his money.”
“We are only charging him unofficially for our services. Our charges are high because he himself is a thief. And of course, very soon we will be leaving, so our charges have to be high. By the time we finish these assignments, Mary, we will be comfortable.”
The service followed the same pattern as previous days. There were many testimonies of financial and health miracles, and after preaching another short sermon, Antubam sat down for consultations.
Whilst he gave ‘directions’ to his clients, Mary and Suzzie counted the money. In the course of consultations, he selected two attractive ladies to go the ‘mission house’ with him. After the last client had left, he came to meet the two ladies, all smiles.
“You will be pleased to hear, my beautiful ladies that two ladies who came for directions before travelling to Europe have sent someone to give thanks for the success of their business, and have given an offering of ten thousand dollars, so we can make a good start with our plans straightaway. So I want you to change this and get going.”
“That’s great, Osofo. We’ll do that. Today’s offerings came to four thousand cedis. We’ll pay that into the account.”
“There’s another four thousand cedis here. Please add that.”
“Okay, Osofo. We’ll call you and give you some feedback.”
“I’ll be expecting your call. Take GH¢100 for lunch and transport.”
“Suzzie,” Mary asked as they left the church, ‘what kind of business are those two ladies doing, which has been so profitable that within two days of landing in Europe, they have brought an offering of GH¢2,000?”
“Do you need me to tell you? We shouldn’t hang around this Antubam man for long, Mary.”
By the close of day the two friends had concluded arrangements with a landlord, and furniture and home appliances supplier. They had also made part payment for a smart ‘home secondhand’ saloon car.
Finally, they had called and concluded arrangements for an initial two-week, early morning broadcast on Echo FM. For their efforts, they had put away a cool five thousand cedis for themselves. The car dealer drove them to Antubam’s place, and Suzzie knocked on his door. He came out after some20 minutes, and, seeing the car, almost collapsed with joy. The ladies gave him the other news.
“Osofo,” Suzzie reminded him, “we will make arrangements for the chairs and other stuff for the church in the next couple of days, if funds are available.
All that is left for now is an outstanding amount of GH¢4,500 to be given to the dealer here, Mr Amoako. He has agreed that we make payment in two weeks.”
“Wait a minute!” he roared. “I think I can get it now.” He went in and came back with the amount.”
“Okay then, Osofo. We’ll see you at church as usual.”
“Okay, my beautiful ladies. Remind me to make some money available for the church fittings. And as for this weekend, we must spend some enjoyable time together, especially as we now have a car at our disposal.”
“We’ll be looking forward to it.”
By Ekow de Heer
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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