Pilgrimage Politics and the Problem With How African Leaders Still See Africans - Voice of Africa Broadcast & Media Production
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Pilgrimage Politics and the Problem With How African Leaders Still See Africans


There is something deeply troubling about the kind of political imagination that some African leaders still operate with in 2026 — not just in Ghana, but across the continent.

Take Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, former Vice President of Ghana, as one example. He once championed the idea of a National Pilgrimage Authority — a state-backed structure to organise religious trips, including Christian pilgrimages to Israel.

This raises a fundamental question that applies far beyond Ghana:

Why does pilgrimage feature at all in the political ambitions of those seeking to lead modern African states?

Not Just Ghana — A Continental Problem

This is not unique to Ghana. Across Africa, many governments elevate religion to a political tool while neglecting the very real material needs of their people.

From Nigeria to Kenya, from South Africa to Ethiopia, political leaders frequently use religious symbolism and spiritual rhetoric as a substitute for real economic and infrastructural development.

The result?

All while billions are spent on unfinished monuments, grandiose religious projects, or symbolic gestures that do not create jobs or wealth.

The Cathedral That Became a Crater

Look at Ghana’s National Cathedral project: years after it was announced as a spiritual landmark, all that remains is a giant, unfinished hole.

This is a perfect metaphor for many African projects — ambitious in vision but absent in execution.

So when politicians propose a National Pilgrimage Authority or similar initiatives, the question is:

How can they be trusted to deliver on practical needs when they can’t even complete projects on their own soil?

What This Reveals About How Africans Are Viewed

This trend exposes a deeper and more dangerous assumption:

That Africans are to be led through faith and ritual, not through governance and accountability.

That our people are more motivated by spiritual promises than by material progress.

That Africans should be pacified with religious consolation while the real work of nation-building is postponed.

This mindset, inherited from colonial and post-colonial leadership patterns, undermines Africa’s potential.

Pilgrimage Is Not a Development Policy

Pilgrimage, no matter how holy, does not:

It is a spiritual journey, not an economic strategy.

To rely on pilgrimage politics is to reduce governance to performative ritual, ignoring the real and urgent challenges Africa faces.

How This Mindset Affects Africa’s Productivity

When political leadership channels resources into symbolic religious projects rather than industrial or technological development, productivity suffers:

The very people these leaders claim to represent are denied the tools to build prosperous, independent lives.

The New African Question

The new African generation is different:

They ask:

They are no longer interested in being led as believers instead of citizens.

Conclusion

This is not a criticism of faith itself — religion remains a vital part of African life.

But it is a call for political maturity.

African states must move beyond pilgrimage politics and symbolic religiosity and focus on governance that delivers economic empowerment and infrastructural progress.

Until that happens, the continent’s potential will remain shackled by old mindsets that confuse spiritual comfort for real leadership.

Voice of Africa

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