The Presidential Envoy on Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, has again defended his office’s move to receive and review prophecies, stressing that the role involves several other duties beyond prophecy evaluation.
In an interview with JoyNews’ Maxwell Agbagba, Mr Afriyie Ankrah revealed that over 200 prophecies have already been submitted following the recent helicopter crash that claimed eight lives. However, he noted that most will not be acted upon.
“By and large, 70–80% is of no substance,” he said. “Then you look at the rest the 20% and you sift through and maybe 2–3–5% may deserve some further probe. So it’s not a full-time job or office that has been set up solely to receive prophecies; that’s not how it works. The office has multiple duties. We collaborate with ECOWAS, the African Union, the UN, and, locally, all the various faith bodies, not just Christians.”
Explaining why the decision was taken, the envoy said the move came after some prophets claimed they had foreseen the crash. He argued that sensitive predictions with possible security implications should be privately reported rather than made public in raw form.
“If you say a Ghana Air Force plane is going to crash, whichever way, it’s a security matter,” he stated. “Those specific ones, we are saying don’t put it out there in a raw form that will create problems. You’ve been complaining that you don’t have access to officialdom. We’ve created a WhatsApp platform and an email address send it to us and then we will review.”
Mr Afriyie Ankrah added that the Bible itself instructs that prophecies should be tested. “Testing means there is room for review to assess, to evaluate because some definitely will be chaff. There’s a lot that is coming that is complete bogus, that will be thrown into the dustbin. But there may be a few that have some substance.”
He also addressed public criticism and misconceptions about his role. “People say my office is a collector of prophecies. First of all, I got my appointment letter about two weeks ago. People didn’t know about the office, so when the statement came out, maybe some thought an office has been set up solely to collect prophecy.
“That’s why you saw all those memes. But the office is meant to coordinate with all the various religious bodies Christian, Muslim and other faiths to help foster unity and oneness in the country.”
According to him, this work is essential because religion plays a dominant role in Ghanaian life. “If you look at the last population census, the religious community constitutes over 90% of the entire population. So they are critical in the society.
“I’ve heard people say government should focus on governance and allow churches to do their work. What is governance? Governance is to ensure the interests of the citizens are protected and advanced. Faith has become part of our society 90% of the population so it’s your reality that you have to deal with.”
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