Veteran journalist Kwesi Pratt Jnr has criticised preachers who use commercial bus journeys to deliver religious messages about fatal road accidents, saying the practice adds to the stress and anxiety of passengers.
Speaking on Accra-based Metro TV on Wednesday, October 14, during a discussion on the proposed restriction on preaching and hawking in commercial vehicles, Mr Pratt Jr said passengers should not have to endure frightening messages during already stressful journeys.
He cited instances where preachers warn passengers about horrific accidents and suggest that prayer is the only way to prevent them.
“The journey itself is stressful,” he said, describing how some preachers enter commercial vehicles and begin delivering sermons without contributing to the cost of the journey.
Mr Pratt Jr said such messages could leave passengers burdened by disturbing descriptions of road crashes, including incidents in which people lose limbs or die.
“The guy boards the bus, and he’s telling you about how people die through accidents and that the only way to prevent gory accidents, where your limb will be amputated, sometimes the accident happens, somebody’s head is cut off and so on, is to pray,” he said.
He questioned the effect of such preaching on passengers and drivers, particularly during long-distance trips that can take several hours.
“Can you imagine the burden that is imposed on the passengers and the driver, can you imagine it?” he asked.
Mr Pratt Jr argued that the controversy should not be reduced to an attack on Christianity, saying the issue also concerns the rights of passengers who may not wish to listen to religious messages while travelling.
He invoked the 1992 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of conscience, including the right to choose a religion or hold no religious belief.
He also questioned which religious message should be permitted if commercial vehicles were treated as spaces for unrestricted evangelism, noting that passengers could belong to different faiths.
“If you say that commercial transport should be free, for spreading the gospel, which gospel?” he asked.
Mr Pratt maintained that people should be free to practise their faith without imposing it on others, even before a bus begins its journey.
“Even when the bus has not moved, I don’t want to hear anybody telling me how to live my life,” he said.
He added that the proposed restriction should be viewed in the context of protecting individual rights rather than suppressing religious expression.
“You can’t come to my house and start telling me how to conduct my life and so on. It’s an infringement of my right,” he said, concluding that “the bus station should be sanitized.”