“Share fake prophecies and be Jailed”: Religious Human Rights and the Regulation of Prophetic Communication in the Ghanaian Public Sphere

This paper explores the complex role of pastor-prophets and prophecy in Ghana’s public sphere by examining the Ghana Police Service’s 2021 directive against “negative” prophetic communication. It argues that this directive reveals tensions between the state’s constitutional responsibility to maintain public order and its parallel duty to uphold religious freedom and human rights. Deploying theories of postcolonial secularism, mediatization of religion, and African political theology, the paper analyzes the legal, ethical, and political dilemmas raised by public prophecy. Three core issues emerge: the state’s legal authority (locus standi) to regulate religious speech, the threat such regulation poses to religious expression and privacy, and the evolving dynamics of prophetic communication in a media-driven religious economy. The paper participates in the discussion on secular governance and religious pluralism in African democracies.