The history of Ghana would never be complete without the emergence of Christianity and African Traditional Religion.
People from both religions are believed to have similar ways of appeasing a Supreme being by offering thanksgiving or sending their petitions for divine protection.
Christians are believed to serve and worship God through Jesus Christ. On the other hand, the African traditionalists are known to revere the Supreme Being (God) through lesser gods and ancestors; that is, through divinity cults and ancestral veneration.
However, in recent years, the leaders of the African Traditional religion have spoken fervently about how Christianity is trying to erode their entity by making many believe the African Traditional religion is fetish.
On this backdrop, Chief Priest of Osu, Wor-Lumor Nuumo Noi Sekanku Kpenuku II, in the latest episode of People & Places has said that the whole hullabaloo started with the British.
He told GhanaWeb that in the attempt to degrade the monarchy of Ghana, they named the chairs of Ghanaian chiefs as 'stools' while referring to theirs as thrones. Affirming his disappointment, he added that stool according to medical laboratories means excreta.
"Let me enlighten you on something. When you go to England, the Queen is sitting on a chair they call the throne; you go to the Netherlands the same. You go to all these European countries where we have monarchs, they are sitting on thrones. Why is it that our monarchs sit on stools? Have you ever found the dictionary meaning of stool? When you get into the medical laboratories, stool means...the excreta that we leave in the gents. Oxford Dictionary, stool means something that you put your feet on."
Wor-Lumor Nuumo Noi Sekanku Kpenuku II reiterated that the British likened their own monarchy to that of God, who is the Supreme Being. According to him, being colonial masters at the time made them 'gods'.
"So you see, by this naming of our thrones, they have degraded our chiefs. The British, the colonial masters they degraded our chiefs. But they call their chairs thrones and they call ours stools. And they call the chair of God, throne. So they are gods to us, and they are not gods to us."
The Osu Chief Priest underscored that it is prudent for the public to note that, Christianity which was introduced by the British colonial masters is not 'holy' as they claim.
He said, the traditional religion, which he says is the first religion on earth is holier than Christianity.
"No, we are holier than them. They came to kill and steal our minerals and goods; and stole our human resource, took our people as slaves. So we are cleaner than them," he told GhanaWeb.
Watch the full interview below, skip to 10th minutes for this story.
