Practitioners of the African Traditional Religion are not giving up on their call on government and parliament in particular to grant them a national holiday.

Religious activities of the two dominant religions, Islam and Christianity are characterized by holidays, a privilege not enjoyed by practitioners of African Traditional Religion which has necessitated a sustained call by this group to grant them what they deem their inalienable right.

Prophet Anaglasi of the New Gavriel Enlightenment Traditional Church located at Somanya in the Eastern Region who is championing this call has on behalf of African Traditional Religion practitioners in the country reiterated previous calls on government to institute a public holiday in honour of the faith, just as has been done to Christians and Muslims.

According to him, traditional religion deserves such consideration since it was recognised by the 1992 Constitution.

Article 21(a) and (c) of the 1992 Constitution states respectively that, “all persons shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and belief, which shall include academic freedom and [the] freedom to practice any religion and to manifest such practice”.

This according to the traditionalist, required the state to give equal recognition to all faiths including traditional religion.

The prophet’s latest call came in Koforidua at the end of the church’s national traditional prayer for peace ahead of Monday’s general elections.
Quoting the constitution to support his call, Togbe Anaglasi demanded its fair share of recognition by the next government and the august house of parliament.

“We urge the winner of the next government [elections] to remember the traditional religion because the 1992 religion in article 17, sections 1,2 and 3, also article 21 and 26, section 1 recognized traditional religion, we want to be recognized and treated as such.”

Proposing July 9 and 10 as revelations from God for a national holiday for their faith, the leader of the New Gavriel Enlightenment Traditional Church argued that equality of the citizenry before the law required that all groups and individuals are treated with the same recognition, rights and privileges.

“For some time now we have been calling for a public holiday for the traditional religion as it is with our beloved brothers from the Christian and Muslim fraternity. We are [therefore] proposing July 9 and 10 because that is the direction from God in the Bible.”

According to him, on July 9 and 10 every year, deities all over the world embarked on a journey to the spiritual realm to account for their deed to the Supreme Being and as a result; it would be the ideal period for the practitioners to showcase their deities.

National traditional prayer for peace

The group last weekend held a 2-day national traditional prayer for peace for incident free polls ahead of the 2020 elections at the Koforidua Jackson Park in the Eastern Region.

The group while reminding politicians that Ghanaians are peace-loving people said everything must be done to uphold and sustain the prevailing situation before, during, and after the 2020 general elections.

“Elections are just one of the political activities in every democratic country like ours, we only agree to disagree during elections or political periods but this does not mean we are enemies but rather partners and stakeholders in developing our dear and beloved country with different policies.”

The group further adds: “War has never been a solution to any country’s problems and will never be to ours. Let us remember that we have only one Ghana and we must do our best to keep it peaceful before, during, and after the elections.”

With children and women usually ending up as the biggest victims of war, the group pleaded with political groups to think of them as vulnerable groups who would be worst affected and hence needs to be protected.

The best way to ensure peace, the group suggested is for the winners not to use provocative words and statements and for the loser to graciously accept defeat.

They, therefore, called on the youth to love peace and reject any offers to engage in violence during the polls.