Bagbin Warns Against Dismissing Genuine Prophecies as Nation Mourns Eight Victims in Helicopter Crash
Alban Bagbin, Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, has urged citizens to take “genuine” prophecies seriously, warning against dismissing spiritual warnings from credible religious leaders.
Speaking on August 11 while leading a parliamentary delegation to the homes of two senior officials killed in last week’s military helicopter crash, Mr Bagbin said spiritual counsel from trusted pastors and reverends should not be taken lightly.
“Pastors, the Reverends—we should listen to them. It is not all of them who are looking for money. Don’t take what they say for granted,” he said. “I can’t say somebody who is not in Parliament will know parliamentary work more than me. And so I don’t know about the spiritual world more than those who have taken it as a career.”
The Speaker’s remarks come amid a new directive from the Presidency’s Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations Office requiring religious leaders to submit prophecies of national significance for official review. In a letter issued on August 10, presidential envoy Elvis Afriyie Ankrah called on the clergy to present any prophecy relating to high-profile political leaders, governance, national security or public stability for urgent assessment.
The move follows viral social media videos in which self-proclaimed prophets claimed to have foreseen the August 6 crash, which killed eight people, including two cabinet ministers — Dr Edward Omane Boamah, a former defence minister, and Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, a former environment minister and Tamale Central MP.
The victims also included Alhaji Muniru Mohammed Limuna, a former acting deputy national security coordinator; Samuel Aboagye, a former parliamentary candidate; and Samuel Sarpong, vice-chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), as well as three Ghana Air Force crew members.
The Z-9 helicopter, carrying three crew and five passengers, had departed Accra for Obuasi on an anti-illegal mining mission when it went “off the radar”, prompting a search-and-rescue operation that later confirmed no survivors.
A three-day-long national mourning period was declared, with flags at half-mast. Commemorations have included a flower-laying ceremony on August 7, an evening memorial service on August 9, and burials for Dr Murtala Mohammed and Alhaji Limuna on August 10 in accordance with Islamic rites. A state burial for the remaining victims is scheduled for August 15.
