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Polygamy and its controversies

Polygamy has been a long lasting tradition since Adam's time especially in Africa.
Nana Kwasi Akuffo, a former paramount chief of Akuapim was known to have married sixty two(62)
recognized wives in each of the seventeen towns with 127 children, 142 grandchildren and 54 great-grandchildren ~Akuapim Handbook~
Also, a Kenyan man, Akuku Danger was known to have married 100 wives and countless children.
Polygamy has two forms: polygyny denotes a man marrying two or more wives whiles polyandry is when a woman marries two or more men. The latter seems extremely rare in Africa.

Today, most societies are not engaging themselves in the practice consequent to increasing urbanization, economic downfalls and numerous drawbacks.
As an excerpt from "Some aspects of social structure in Ghana" depicts "Although polygyny is permitted in  many of societies of Ghana, monogamy is the statistical norm.
 In the Post Enumeration Survey, mates were monogamously married, 20% had two wives and 5% had three wives. It is only in the Northern region and in the Volta region that the proportion of males with more than one wife exceeds the national average".

In Ghana, and in most countries around the world, majority of Christians abhors polygyny, both Catholics and protestants. As the book of "Some aspects of social structures in Ghana" says "The Euro christian ideal of chastity outside marriage does not fit in very well with traditional situation in which the male is free to have many concurrent marriages".
They use 1 Timothy 3:2, 1 Timothy 3:12 and 1 Corinthians 7:2 to support their claim.

However, in Biblical era, there were persons known to be polygamist.
Evident amongst them are Abraham, Jacob, Solomon and Lamech.
Abraham and Jacob were known to have married for a specific reason. Abraham married Hagar after Sarah recommended it. Jacob married Leah because he was tricked into it by Laban likewise Bilhah and Zillpah at the advice of his first two wives.
Other instances where the Bible indicates polygamy include Gen 4:19 "Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah", Judges 8:30 "Gideon had seventy sons conceived from his body; for he had many wives".

Palpably, these shows that the Bible does not condemn the practice of polygyny.
It (the Bible) goes ahead to guide man should he decide to take another wife. Exodus 21:10 "If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing and marital rights".
This of course would require  a person who decides to be a polygamist to be financially strong  because he would have to in many cases provide the same housing and care for all wives.
Even the godfather of protestant reformation recognizes polygamy.
An excerpt from Wikipedia showing Martin Luther's recognition of polygamy.
"During the protestant reformation in a document referred to simply as "Der Beichtrat" or the confessional Advice, Martin Luther granted the landgrave Philip of Hesse who for many years, had been living constantly in a state of adultery and fornication a dispensation to take a second wife.
 The double marriage was to be done in secret, however to avoid public scandal. Some fifteen years earlier in a letter to the Saxon chancellor Gregor Bruck, Luther stated that he could not forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the scriptures".
The confusion and argument here, I leave that to the scholars and clergies.

Also, in the Islamic religion, polygyny is allowed to a maximum of four(4) wives.
Prophet Mohammed had nine wives, but not all at the same time.
The Qu'ran unequivocally states that if men decides to marry many wives, he must deal with them justly, if not then he should marry one.

Although many Muslim countries still retain traditional law that sanctions polygyny, secular elements within some Muslin societies challenge its acceptability.
Countries such as Azerbaijan, Tunisia and Turkey prohibits polygyny because they have not adopted Islamic law for marital regulation

As it has being demonstrated above, the Torah in the Jewish religion does not forbid a man from having multiple wives. As the Jewish Rabbi Naftali Silberg noted in his article, a noted German scholar Rabbi |Gershom "The light  of the Diaspora" banned polygamy.
It was accepted as law by Ashkenazic Jews but not the Sephardic and Yemenite communities.
He aslo noted that it is nonexistent among Sephardic Jews owing to the fact that majority live in societies where polygamy is not legally or socially acceptable.
In his article he cited various reasons for Rabbi Gershom ban on polygamy but also indicated the loopholes where a man can marry a second wife under certain extenuating circumstances.
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman in his article also says "Even the very verse in which the Torah provides a green light for polygamy frames it within an undesirable circumstances: if a man will have two wives, one beloved and the other hated...". Then why make room for trouble?

Apparently, various religious scriptures does not necessarily forbid polygamy.
 In any case, I think the practice should not be the norm especially in today's world because of economic difficulties and the numerous problems that already comes with polygamy such as infighting between wives, which also leads to the transgression of G-d's law.
The reason for the practice being nonexistent should not be associated with any religious perception or reason but secular reasons.

The exploration(1)

Once upon a time, I felt homesick and bored and decided to have some fun by exploring some of the beautiful scenery that Ghana has to offer but unfortunately for me, My friends and I were able to visit only few of these captivating places. Maybe you should try it when you feel depressed, it might help you!!
Truly, there is a lot of places in Ghana to help you enlighten yourself about Africans.

Path leading to the boti falls

 No doubt about it, Ghana has got magnificent places that will refresh your mind, make you feel at home and for a while make you free of the troubles at home and at work.

Cape Coast Castle

 Some the places we were able to visit included Akaa falls, Boti falls, the Cape Coast castle. Boti falls, for instance has the snake palm tree thus a palm tree that looks like a snake and an umbrella rock.

The Akaa falls has ancient rocks that has fascinating stories behind it. Stories relating to where ancient spirits were believed to be residing.

Not to talk of the Cape coast castle that has the historical stories of how our forefathers were treated as though they were less than humans.
The  castle holds the pitiful story of slaves and how they were put in dungeons and sold to fellow human beings like inanimate objects.
































If you look closely at the picture of the rock here, you can see that there is a footprint engraved on it.
As you can see, it does not resemble a normal footprint of human being but looks  extraordinary.
This footprint is believed to be the footprint of some spirit that once lived in the vicinity.
He was believed to have left his footprints when he was migrating to another place.
This stone engraving and many others can be found at the Akaa  falls.

When we visited the Akaa falls, I noticed that it had not being discovered by the government.
It was the locals that showed us around.
That I find very sad because I think a lot of revenue could be gained if we invest in our tourism industry.
Nonetheless, it was exciting for us.





Few other places we planned on touring but were not able to included the Kakum national park, the Wli falls in the Volta Region, the sword of Okomfo Anokye which according to history has not being removed since it was thrusted into ground by the Fetish priest himself.


I hope to someday bring you all the other gist from subsequent tours that I may undertake, so watch out!!!

The canopy walkway at Kakum park

Okomfo Anokye's Sword

Galamsey activities

Ghana is endowed with a lot of mineral resources. Unfortunately, enormous amount of revenues are slipping through the hands of the government owing to illegal mining locally known as "galamsey" and orpailleurs in neighboring francophone countries.
These activities usually takes places in the Eastern, Western parts of the country and Brong Ahafo and Ashanti region where these mineral resources are known to be in abundance.
The government, in 1989 passed a P.N.D.C law 218 to legalize small scale mining in an efforts to curb illegal mining(galamsey). However, the results over the years have proven futile as the practice is known to be increasing over the years.

The process involves the use of chemicals such as mercury and cyanide. Majority of workers involved are men with women being used as porters in the mining areas.
These activities have left most part of the country with a lot of detrimental effects over the years.
It is sad to know that the damage caused not only affects the environments but drains the government coiffures and retards development.
Man and animals are exposed to mercury poisoning.
Also in November 12, 2009. a collapse occurred in an illegal, privately owned mines in Dompoase, Ashanti Region. Eighteen(18) workers were killed thirteen of whom were women. The event was described as the worst ever to happen in the history of Ghana's mining activities.
On the 16th June,2014. six people were known to have been buried under a 12 meter pit  whiles prospecting for gold at Ahafo Ano North district of the Ashanti Region, several others were also injured. According to ghanaweb.

Environmentally, our virgin forest are being depleted. On March 19, 2014 illegal mining activities were reported to be moving into restricted forest. Huge pits and trenches left uncovered are leading to massive erosional activities, degrading the land and creating endangered zones for children in these communities as they are likely to fall into them.
The rivers are being polluted amounting to water shortages and spread of diseases around the communities.

In an effort to halt the practices 4500 Chinese nationals were deported on 15 July, 2013. They were reported to be abettors of most galamsey operations in the country.
In addition to that the security agencies; military, police and the Environmental Protection Agencies and the minerals commission have set up a task force to bring those involved to book.
Although, their effort have being gradually alleviating the problem, I think they should still step up on their game.



  

The Onetime Farewell

            Ghanaians and most Africans believes in life after death. After all, we are all humans, we will all die someday and as it has always being, we perform a funeral rite for the dead.

As it is said in Gen.3:19 "By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

So whether rich or poor, young or old,whatever way we live our lives we shall surely be dead someday and so funeral has become a necessary evil for humans.

When a new baby is born, there is invariably joy and celebrations but death of an individual palpably is the exact opposite.

 Funerals, usually a ceremony that seeks to give farewell messages to the soul into the spiritual realm has become a major social event in Ghana.

In most communities in Ghana, funerals are organized differently depending on the status,tribe, age or religion of the deceased. Generally, they are organized on weekends with distinctive attires of black,red or dark brown. White is sometimes worn when the decease is above the age of 85.

In the olden days, in the Akan tradition, if someone's child has not died before, the first child to die is called "fea" and for such child no funeral is held.

Also people who are known to have died from bizarre illness, natural disasters, maternal mortality or is known to have committed suicide do not have any funeral rites performed on their behalf.

It was  believed that the person may have committed an offense which might have prompted the ancestors to punish him in such manner and therefore should there be any funeral, the wrath of the gods will be visited on the people.

However, in modern times most of these practices have been thrown away.

Funeral ceremonies are performed for all manner of people irrespective of the circumstances surrounding their death.

Immediately after demise of someone, rituals are immediately performed. Droplets of water are dropped on the mouth of the deceased. The faith behind this act is that the soul travels into the spiritual realm to his ancestors, hence the water. The chief of the community is informed and of course the head of the family.

Subsequently a family meeting is held and a decision is made on who oversees the funeral rites, who buys the coffin and the date that the ceremony is to be held.

In the case of whose responsibility it is to buy a coffin, it behoves the children to buy it when the father dies, and the father also buys it when the wife dies. Invariably, libation is pured and the dead body is bathed.

After which the body is carefully dressed and is laid in public for friends and relatives to file past it.

Relatives mostly present to the body, items such as rings, cloth, sponge and things the person is believed will need in the course of the journey to the afterlife. It is then taken to the cemetery before dusk for burial.

After the burial, a service is held the next day in his honour.

This is where the bereaved family accepts condolences and thanks the mourners and well wishers for the support.

Invariably, there is drumming, dancing and foods and drinks are also served.In modern Ghanaian societies funerals have become a place where people exhibit their wealth. A place of joy and celebration in contrast to the solemn nature of mourning.
Elaborate funerals are invariably performed in modern Ghanaian societies. Fancy caskets, banquets of all kinds, chairs and canopies being hired together with Djs who will entertain visitors. You should not be surprised when you visit someone and find his/her wardrobe full of funeral cloth because every funeral demands a special cloth bereaved families are supposed to wear.

However, originally food and drinks were provided to mourners who traveled long distances to attend the funeral and obviously didn't come from the community where the ceremony is being held.
Today, all that has being thrown to the  dogs. Banquets are held and mourners are expected to turn up in their numbers. The greater the number of mourners the better hence the colossal amount of money that is invested into the organization of these activities.
Consequent to this, huge debt are always incurred because families tend to organize showy funerals and spend extravagantly even if their financial situation does not  demand it.

Loans are contracted and this tends to worsen things. For once I can't believe that people contract loans just to organize funerals. Its no surprise that during the burial of the former president of Ghana Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, 3.5 million Ghana cedis or 1.8 dollars was spent whiles the poor people of Ghana languished in poverty.
As always when  families do this, nothing better is left of them  as they are chiefly forced into financial constraints.
As one of our legislators pointed out, it is indeed very sad that we are investing in the dead rather than the living.
It is my hope that Ghanaians will see the repercussions of these unwise spending and and manage their finances prudently.