Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Religion and politics have been and continue to be intertwined in Ghana. From the foundation of Ghanaian history until now, politics and religious beliefs affect each other. Ghana’s 2016 general elections was another case of the connection between religion and politics. Using the presidential elections as a basis of analysis the paper outlines the various manifestations of religion and politics at the pre-elections period such as; the prophetic declarations of the clergy, the name of the presidential candidates, campaigning in various religious institutions and the campaign for peace by various religious institutions. It argues that though, there were various manifestations of religion and politics, it was less significant in determining the outcome of the elections. However, the election was won by the then opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with factors such as; voting based on party identification, the appealing manifesto of the NPP, the poor economic performance of the then ruling party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the general call for change across the country. It concludes with some recommendations such as the clergy desisting from unwarranted and divisive political prophecies, political parties’ stakeholders using religion as a tool for unity and not division, and religious organizations continuing their role as agents of unity and peace.