The impacts of Disinformation and Misinformation can be injurious to societies and undermine national cohesion in any country. African traditional and religious practices frown on activities that undermine unity and progress. Before Christianity, Islam or any other faith found its way onto the continent, Africans found God or their gods in the sun, moon, sky, rivers, mountains, trees, forests, and animals. Ritualistic reverence for their ancestors was deeply ingrained in the average African of old. They had unquestionable faith in their traditional priests and priestesses who they perceived as intermediaries between them and their ancestral spirits. Chiefs, queen mothers and other traditional leaders were also deeply respected in ancient African societies.
Even though these beliefs and cultural values have waned with time and are diluted further by colonialism and modernity, remnants of these practices are evident eventoday. African chiefs and voodoo or juju priests and priestesses still occupy a special place in society albeit comparatively less potent than in ancient times. Shamans are still consulted for spiritual healing, revenge, protection, fortification and justice. For instance, the mention of two particular shrines in Ghana – Nogokpo in the Volta Region and Antoa in the Ashanti Region – strikes fear in people, forcing them to either recant earlier claims and declarations, tell the truth, or render justice to whom it is due. Additionally, the reverence for chiefs, sub-chiefs, queen mothers and other custodians of African customs and traditions, who either interact with or have dealings with the supernatural through rituals, compels the average African to be truthful with such people.
Furthermore, Africans have a lot of reverence for their pastors, bishops, church priests, reverend fathers, vicars, Imams and sheikhs. They see them as people chosen by God himself through whom they can reach out to the Almighty. It is this belief that fuels their respect and, thus, the spiritual influences they have on them.
Be it the voodoo shrine of the shaman, the palace of the chief, the minbar of the imam in the mosque, or the pulpit of the bishop in the church, the influence carried by these places and their occupants is quite significant. It can, thus, be leveraged for good, especially in this information age where slander, gossip and rumours come in different forms and fuel misinformation and disinformation.
This is one of the antidotes to mis/disinformation suggested by security experts at an international conference organised by the Centre for Intelligence and Security Analysis (CISA) at the Lancaster Hotel in Accra, Ghana, on Thursday, 7 November 2024, on the theme, ‘New Paradigms for Ensuring Peace and Security in Africa: The Role of Closer Cooperation with Non-Governmental Security and Intelligence Organisations.’
Leveraging the influence of traditional and religious leaders such as chiefs, imams, pastors, priests as well as key opinion leaders in indigenous African communities, can be a potent anti-disinformation strategy.
The average African is less likely to lie to a chief, jujuman, imam, sheikh, queen mother, pastor or an opinion leader of influence in a community. Therefore, these people can quell rumours, gossip, slander, fake news, misinformation or disinformation within their small communities and, through that, bring clarity to issues and let the truth be manifest. At that indigenous level, they become verification sources of mis/disinformation and prevent such from spreading further.
While the pastor and imam can use their pulpit and minbar, respectively, to clarify the true state of affairs regarding an issue to their congregation, the chief and queen mother can use the gong-gong or community centre or the palace to do the same. This guerrilla strategy can have a huge impact, especially in communities where media and digital illiteracy is very high. These opinion leaders, for example, can be used to propagate public health campaigns and dispel conspiracy theories, fake news, mis/disinformation surrounding vaccinations. They would have been a very useful verification tool, for instance, for the COVID-19 vaccination campaign which was engrossed in so much mis/disinformation.
African culture encourages honesty, justice and fairness and chiefs, queen mothers, shamans, imams, sheikhs and the clergy are seen as an epitome of those values, therefore, whatever comes out of their palaces, shrines, mosques and churches are deemed to be the gospel truth. That enormous power can be a very effective verification source if governments, through their agencies, collaborate with these opinion leaders and work as partners in combatting mis/disinformation.
A former Ghanaian president, Jerry John Rawlings, while alive, once alluded to the potency of indigenous African traditions in unearthing the truth and ending false claims. Asked to clear the air about some corruption allegations made against him, Mr Rawlings told some African youth at a forum held on 28 March 2014, as reported by Radioxyzonline.com: “… I was citing an example of three people in a room; by the following morning, one was dead and the other two who were alive were arrested and taken to court, and as the court proceedings were going on, the case was beginning to find one of them guilty and they were going to make a pronouncement on him. Do you know what he asked? ‘The one who is alive, he and I come from the same village; we’ve sworn on the Bible, sworn on the Quran, sworn on the sword, and yet, I’m the one being found guilty; Please, I beg the judge, take us to the village we come from, we have a shrine over there, let us go and swear on that shrine and see whether I am innocent or he is the culprit’.”
This underscores the important role that African beliefs, customs and traditions can play in verifying false claims, misinformation and disinformation. The fear of swearing on a shrine alone is enough to compel someone to confess their ‘sins,’ tell the truth, clear the air, apologise or show fairness and do retributive justice to another party.
There have been a few instances in Ghana where journalists have been summoned before palaces of chiefs to clarify comments that they made about traditional authorities which went viral. Oftentimes, these summons end in shaming the journalists, providing clarification and sometimes fining them or exacting public apologies and a recantation of the said comments or claims.
Chiefs, queen mothers, sheikhs, imams, and the Christian clergy can also be used to douse the political, ethnic and religious tensions created through mis/disinformation, especially during times of elections and electoral disputes. Their involvement in dispelling false claims and fake news can go a long way to thawing icy situations and engendering peace and tranquillity.
Conclusion
Even though the idea of mixing Indigenous African traditions and customs with today’s technological advances may seem odd, the two can collaborate effectively to avert dicey security situations that may arise from mis/disinformation. While technology may be light-years ahead of chieftaincy and religion, an effective blend of the two worlds can form a super alliance for the good of many countries. African traditions and customs may be rooted in ancient needs but the influence the social influence they wield even in today’s fast-paced and high-end technological world, retains their relevance. Therefore, we might as well use them when and where we can for purposes that serve the common good.
