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Knowledge abounds as to why human beings worship deities. One of them is to fill the spiritual vacuum inherent in them. That is to say, men worship to satisfy their inborn or natural spiritual constitution. Each and every individual, either by coercion or voluntarily worship to satisfy their OWN spiritual inadequacies to enable them get closer to their creator. Men everywhere worship to SATISFY SELF. In order to fill the spiritual vacuum in them, men across the length and breadth of the universe worship one form or another of a deity. Some worship stones, rivers, trees, snakes, cows, ants, etc. These items, according to their intellect and spiritual intuition, lead them to the creator that they cannot behold with their carnal or naked eyes. Without a shred of doubt, they perceive these items or need I say creations as intermediaries to the creator. Sometimes I wonder why the creator�s creations don�t go straight to him but through intermediaries which in them are all creations like they are. Writing about the various items that men worship everywhere brings to memory delicacies that men enjoy everywhere. Absolutely, everything is a delicacy to every individual across the surface of the world. What the English frown upon is a delicacy in India. What the Akans of Ghana loves most is shunned by the Kusasis, etc, etc. (Example is snake as a delicacy in Ghana) To venerate or, need I say worship or to serve, is to devote time, energy and resources to the one that you reverence. It is always between the creator and his creation. The creator expects his creation to adulate him, to revere him and to tell him that they appreciate all that he has done for them. The air they breathe, the food, shelter, clothing and the fact that they are alive, points to the fact that the creator needs to be worshipped. In so doing, He (God) appreciates the fact that his creation admits without a shadow of doubt that they owe it all to him. For it is he, who gives them all freely without a fee charged at their usage. Procedure in every act is very important. Be it religion, education, sports, government and all. In the art of worship across the length and breadth of the world, every religious group has some form or modus operandi in worshipping. These include the place of worship, equipments that help to make the worship acceptable and enjoyable as well as some practices which bring the congregants or worshippers home to love what they do day in-day-out. These practices in all the religious faiths help to boost and build confidence in the adherents of that faith. These include annual harvests, where funds are raised to build the group. Conventions, to help build their spiritual edifices, and to help members enjoy godly fellowships with other adherents. Some also undertake pilgrimage to supposed Holy Sites to commune with their creator. They return from these expeditions with a firm belief that certainly, everything was going to be okay in their lives. Most especially, their financial situations are the most that they crave for. Do you doubt this submission, go and ask Malam Issah. He will tell you that his whole life turned around for the better as soon as he came back from Mecca in 1999. The other time, Wofa Kwadwo, who came back from Israel told me God loves him. Why because he went there to meet with him and has blessed him ever since. His business has improved. His walk with God has become closer than before because of what he saw there. He went to visit sites alleged to be where Christ walked and demonstrated the power of God. In fact he said he has benefited a lot from the trip. Trekking from one�s home country to another to commune with his creator is a pleasant experience to behold. It helps to build that individual�s faith in his creator and also reform him for the better to build a good moral society where all would live to please the creator and nothing else. All those who do so according to my estimation foot all bills pertaining to the trip. Ironically, I heard that some faithful in the Islamic faith who are going to undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca this year are going to be sponsored by the government, courtesy tax payers� money. This is what baffles my mind. It tinkles my ears and sends shivers down my spine. This brought about the writing of this critique. So, I therefore ask myself, does those who are to benefit from this undertake the pilgrimage on behalf of the government, do they have any thing to do with the government or is the government going to benefit from the voyage which will eventually reflect in the lifestyle of all the people, does the government take into consideration the plight of others who practice other faiths, should they also ask to be treated the same way would they be heard as well. And above all, why should the tax-payers� money be used in this area or manner. According to the figures that I was provided with, about four hundred faithful pilgrims are going to benefit from this KIND GESTURE from the government. Should every individual�s round trip plus other expenditure cost the government three thousand (Gh� 3,000.00) Ghana Cedis on the minimal, the four hundred would cost the government a whopping one million two hundred thousand (Gh� 1,200,000.00) Ghana Cedis. Let no one resent me, I am only human and I have the liberty to express my sentiments vis-a-vis party politics and religion. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION OF COURSE IS AT PLAY HERE. Why should the government go this way? What is the government trying to tell other faiths? Is the government bias towards the Islamic faith? Or is the government trying to play bigotry or chauvinism here? This amount could have gone to help in building a school which would go a long way to help generations yet unborn to benefit from. This could as well be used to build a clinic to help ameliorate the unending health problems in the countryside. People are dying of malaria, the provision of insecticide nets could go a long way to help them live healthier and be productive to the course of the nation. What about the provision of potable water for the hundreds of our folks who travel long distances to fetch unwholesome water to drink? The list could go endless. The government knows these and others very well but, the priority is to sponsor pilgrims whose experiences from the pilgrimage would not benefit the people in any way possible but, for their personal interests. I am not trying to play any religion against any one here. But, should the Christians, the Traditional worshippers, Budhis, etc, also ask that they are sponsored to go on pilgrimage to Afghanistan, Bhutan, Tahiti and Ukraine, would the government oblige to do same to them? This really is a kick in the teeth. Someone passed a comment to say that it is a way to say thank you to the Muslims, for voting the party into power. What a passer-by retorted in return was, is it only the Muslims who voted for the NDC to win power? He could not give any tangible clue to this. The guy was in an indeterminate state. He stood before us sheepishly, baffled and not knowing what to say. There are a lot of like-minded persons in the society today who knows nothing about the reality on the ground as of today. Shamefacedly, they hide behind the cloak of party colors and does not contribute a dime to the growth of the country. His subsequent comments were non-starters. He eventually had to leave brusquely. The pointer is simple, the government is doing this, if really this is happening, to create the impression that they have the Muslims at heart and that they feel for them, forgetting the verity that it would not augur well for civil cohesion, should the other faiths also take an entrenched position to benefit same. It is an established fact that the government, by doing this, wants to eradicate the good deeds that the past administration did, which was not only for Muslims but to all and sundry to benefit from. To this end, I will like to inquire if the government indeed is sponsoring those pilgrims and if they considered what the fall-out on this thorny issue will unleahs into the body-politic of the nation. I stand for correction here. If for a fact successive governments have been doing this, they really have done the nation more harm than good by using the tax payers� money to sponsor religious pilgrimages that does not benefit the nation in any way. God bless us all.