The National Cathedral Psychosis, The Hole In Christ’s Heart And Other Holes In Our Body Politic
To those who weren’t, and still haven’t been outraged at how some newly constructed state buildings were zealously pulled down to make way for Akufo-Addo’s vow to find accommodation for his god, know that IT IS POSSIBLE for a man to drag and drug many millions to share in their psychological delusion.
In psychiatry, this phenomenon is known as folie a plusieurs— (madness of many). It is a psychosocial contagion which often becomes difficult to recognize or challenge because it is so deeply embedded in the social fabric. Just as individuals can struggle with mental health without immediate recognition, societal illness such as folie a plusieurs is harder to diagnose and address when it is normalised or institutionalised. No wonder some Ghanaians saw nothing wrong with the cathedral psychosis.
Indeed, this is nothing new under the sun.
Long before this delusion blew up on a national scale, some knew about this tendency in Edward’s highfalutin and overambitious son.
They forewarned that giving him state power was dangerous and might be used to blight the sun’s light on our nation.
The hole cathedral enterprise, as the past eight years has shown, confirms this. The NPP was its first victim; it became a party enmeshed in shared delusions, affecting an entire structure of power, faith, and influence.
Although this project was said to be a private matter, it surreptitiously morphed into a national burden that cost Ghana many millions of US dollars. As if this financial damage wasn’t enough, the president’s cathedral delusion spread to infest many state institutions.
Under a highly emotive social climate, IT IS POSSIBLE for people who show an unwavering commitment and blind loyalty to greedy and total institutions such as churches, political and other social organisations to be susceptible to this malady. The mad streak in their leaders, bosses or pastors, invariably makes sane sections of their followers’ brains go offline for years. Consequently, like their leaders, these followers lose touch with reality.
It is often the case that only after much damage has been done and the source of contagion politically numbed and curbed, (as we see in our Ghanaian context), that some begin to ask themselves—‘what “spirit” possessed us into such complicity to spend millions to dig a Hole in Christ’s heart in the name of finding accommodation for his Father?’
Prominent politico-religious pastors and priests who drive past the well-barricaded Hole in Christ’s heart at Ridge in Accra, are currently experiencing a Post-Election Stress Disorder (PESD) brought on by the decisive rejection of what the hole-digging NPP has become to Ghanaians. It is now apparent that the divine hole has become an evocative metaphor for the triumph of politico-religious insanity over reason.
Some of the clergy who later saw the light of reason that “unbelievers” like us saw right from the outset, are now thanking their best brains for jumping out of the cathedral hole midstream, notwithstanding CHRAJ’s verdict.
A few diehard clergymen, especially those alleged to have multiple identities and mothers still believe in the divine hole. They are convinced that their quixotic plans to feature a Galilee-style restaurant in the cathedral that would serve dishes made from all fruits and vegetables mentioned in the Bible still remains kosha.
The Hole in Christ’s heart at Ridge isn’t the only hole dug by Akufo-Addo’s delusion. Other holes he, together with Vice President Bawumia and former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta dug can be found in our pensioners’ life savings, our country’s river bodies and forest reserves. Alongside these, some more holes have been dug across the country. Some include the shallow holes of the One District, One Dam.
In the case of the Pwalugu Dam, the mere intention and mention to dig a hole to build a dam was magically made synonymous with its completion and a whopping $11.9 million paid.
Invariably, these projects and many others ultimately led to much bigger holes in our national and individual coffers and pockets. In the instance of the latter, a “pickpocket” tax was introduced and a law was passed to legitimise it.
Before you think Akufo-Addo spent all his eight years digging holes wherever he went on land, sea and air, let me mention,—that isn’t the case. Serwaa Broni’s hole wasn’t dug by him. Ghanaians recall she openly came out to say our president’s excavator was in no rock-hard working position to dig or mine her gold.
It could only be a wild guess that, given her foray into his “presidential mining concession”, our delusional hole-loving president might just have settled on a brief strip mining of no harmful environmental consequence to Serwa’s body politic.
