When Akwapim Poloo put a picture of her kneeling in complete nude before her son, some child right activists dragged her to court primarily for violating the rights of the poor boy and the actress got convicted.
Some two students who the computer-placement put them in Achimota School were asked to cut down their hair before coming for admission and they dragged the school to court. The two, Tyron IrasMarhguy and OhenebaNkrabeabelong to the Rastafarian movement and insisted that they cannot go under the scissors because of their faith in Ras Tafari (Haile Selassie). This took up public interest and the whole nation waited for the verdict. And it did come. The high court judge, Justice Gifty Addo agreed that the students’ right to worship will be violated if their dreadlocks were cut and instructed that Achimota School must admit as they are.
In my opinion, I dare say that the judge overlooked some very important things before coming up with that verdict. Is it mandatory to wear dreadlocks before one can be a Rastafarian? The answer to this is a big “No.”
Morgan Heritage, Rasta LeonyRuranganwa and Metal Mulangira are known and very passionate Rastafarians who say wearing of dreadlocks is not mandatory before one can be a Rastafarian. Rastafari is more about a way of life and not necessary the wearing of dreadlocks.
In view of this one would wonder what formed our judge’s decision to say that the wearing of dreadlocks is the manifestation of the religious rights of a Rastafarian and thus asking the students to cut the hair off is the violation of their human rights?
If Justice Gifty Addo had quoted the judge in Jamaica and read well into the judgment and its aftermath, she would first have realized that the judge ruled against seven year Miss Virgo wearing dreadlocks to school primarily because of hygiene. The Virgos are not Rastafarians but wear dreadlocks to express their identity.
Most importantly the Jamaican court was against the way dreadlocks are kept because it poses hygienic problems and with this the rights of other students can be violated. Did our judge consider the rights of other students who will sleep and eat with these Rastafarian students, just as the rights of Akwapim Poloo’s son was assumed to have been violated when he stared at his stack naked mother?
Justice Gifty Addo brought in religion as her basis of forming her opinion on the matter and hence coming out with the verdict. This I believe is very dangerous and with the floodgates opened things can spill over. Firstly in the Rastafarian religion, the Rastas smoke marijuana to increase spiritual awareness.They do not consider marijuana a drug. Instead, it is considered a medium to be used to open their mind and increase their spiritual awareness. Smoking marijuana to the Rastafarian is considered a religious ritual. So Ghanaians can accept that Justice Gifty Addo is permitting marijuana to be smoked on campuses by students who are true Rastafarians and also those who decide to convert due to convenience.
According to the Rastafarian faith, the wearing of dreadlocks is from Sacred Scriptures. For example Rastafarians draw inspiration from God’s directive in Leviticus 19:27, even though this meant to be set apart from other nations. The one quotation which made the wearing of dreadlocks to be revered comes from Judges 13:5 when the birth of Samson was prophesied by an angel. The Rastafarians take wearing of dreadlocks as their source of strength even though Sacred Scriptures tells us the reason why Samson’s hair should not be cut was that he was consecrated to God. In my opinion, once he wore his hair long, the Spirit of God would always be with him. I think his strength was only secondary. This is not the time to open up a debate on this. What we know is that the Rastafarians believed that keeping on dreadlocks is obeying God’s command.
Now that a court in Ghana accepts that a religious dogma must be respected, one has to accept that in this country today, every religious and cultural rights has to be accepted without any discrimination.
Beginning with allowing Rastafarians to wear dreadlocks in school the law in my opinion has permitted such students to smoke marijuana when they are worshiping. Here I cannot see any discrimination against other religions. In Ghana where most clans claim to have come from Israel, example with the Dangmes saying they are the descendants of Dan the seventh son of Jacob and the Gas saying they are the descendants of Gad his ninth son, it will take any of the traditional religion worshipper to back their blood offering to Exodus 24:3-8. We may soon have students who worship traditionally coming to school sprinkled or smeared with blood.
There are some cultures where by the laws of their deities, male and female must go topless. Will we soon be seeing some students, both male and female, going topless in school?
Achimota School served notice to appeal, but the Hon Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, nipped this in the bud when he warned that the school could not take any unilateral decision. It clearly shows that the minister will want the verdict to stay.
This cannot be said to be fair because if this verdict is to remain, the floodgates will be opened and discipline cannot be maintained in our schools anymore. Some students will insist on their rights to do all manner of things in the name of religion with some going as far being half naked on campus.
Code of dressing in schools is to maintain discipline and oneness. No one is to be treated special and here I blame Achimota School for allowing decades old racial rule to be stuck in their books, and that is allowing only Caucasians to wear their hair long because if they cut it they will look ugly. Why the discrimination? And by the way, Tyron and Oheneba are Ghanaians and dark-skinned, so why should they be treated any different when the religion they worship in, is saying that wearing of dreadlocks is not mandatory?
Soon our students will soon have the right to remain half-naked and any cloth worn by them will be used against them in the court of law. Ghana has arrived.
Hon Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
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