Reverend Father Dr. Vincent Kwabena Damuah (1930 - August, 1992) was a catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

, theologian and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

. He was a member of the Provisional National Defence Council

Provisional National Defence Council

The Provisional National Defence Council was the name of the Ghanaian government after the People's National Party's elected government was overthrown by Jerry Rawlings, the former head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. This was on December 31, 1981. It remained in power until January 7,...

 (PNDC) government and was also the founder of the Afrikania Mission. He was also referred to as Osɔfo Okɔmfo Damuah. Dr. Dumuah received a Ph.D. in African Studies from Howard University in 1971.

Priesthood

Rev. Father Damuah was a Roman Catholic priest from 1957 to 1982. He was once a consultant of Afro-American Affairs in the diocese of Pittsburgh in the US. He returned to Ghana in 1976. He was suspended from his priestly ministry by the Catholic Church, because of his involvement with the PNDC government. In December 1982, Rev. Damuah founded the Afrikania Mission, an organization devoted to the promotion of African Traditional Religion

African Traditional Religion

The traditional religions indigenous to Africa have, for most of their existence, been orally rather than scripturally transmitted. They are generally associated with animism. Most have ethno-based creations stories...

.

Politics

Rev. Damuah was detained during the Nkrumah era. This was for criticising the Convention People's Party

Convention People's Party

The Convention People's Party is a socialist political party in Ghana, based on the ideas of former President Kwame Nkrumah.The CPP was formed in 1949 by Kwame Nkrumah to campaign for the independence of the Gold Coast. It ruled Ghana from 1957 to 1966...

 government for the deportation of Bishop Reginald Richard Roseveare, the then Anglican Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Accra

Accra

Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...

. He was released following the personal intervention of Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

 John Kodwo Amissah

John Kodwo Amissah

John Kodwo Amissah was a Ghanaian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Cape Coast from 1959 until his death.Born in Elmina, he was ordained to the priesthood on December 11, 1949. His thesis at St...

, Catholic Archbishop of Cape Coast

Cape Coast

Cape Coast, or Cabo Corso, is the capital of the Central Region of Ghana and is also the capital city of the Fante people, or Mfantsefo. It is situated 165 km west of Accra on the Gulf of Guinea. It has a population of 82,291 . From the 16th century the city has changed hands between the...

 During the four month rule of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council

Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, Ghana

The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council was the government of Ghana from June 4, 1979 to September 24, 1979. It came to power in a bloody coup that removed the Supreme Military Council, another military regime, from power. The June 4 coup was preceded by an abortive attempt on May 15, 1979 when...

 (AFRC) in 1979, he was on record to have supported the executions, which included three former heads of state of Ghana

Heads of state of Ghana

Prior to independence in 1957, Ghana was known as the British colony of Gold Coast. Before then it had been divided among a number of states, by far the largest of which was the Ashanti Empire, whose rulers were known as the Asantehene....

, although the Christian Council of Ghana

Christian Council of Ghana

The Christian Council of Ghana is an umbrella group that unites 15 churches in Ghana. The council has its members from Charismatic, Pentecostal, Orthodox and other churches.-History of the council:The CCG was formed on 30 October 1929...

opposed it. He wrote:

We do not love those executed less but we love our country more. Why all
the fuss about execution? I believe that the A.F.R.C has the right to exact
capital punishment for the common good of the country. We hope and pray
that the number is not too large. Christ died on the cross to save mankind.
We hope and pray that those who have to die, accept the challenge
courageously and prayerfully to save Ghana.

Rev. Damuah was appointed a member of the PNDC on January 2, 1982. This led to his suspension by the Catholic Church from his priestly duties. He had however resigned from government by late 1982.

Publications

• Introduction to traditional religion: Afrikania Reformed African Traditional Religion [Religious text, Afrikania Mission, 1988] 2nd edition
• Kwabena Damuah, African Contribution to Civilization (Accra: Nsamankow Press, 1985).
• Damuah, Kwabena. Afrikania Handbook. Accra: Nsamankow Press, 1982.

Kwabena Damuah. Afrikania (Reformed Traditional Religion). Common Sense Series 8. Accra:
Afrikania Mission, 1984.
———. African Contribution to Civilization. Accra: Nsamankow Press, 1985.

Further reading

• “A Traditional Religion Reformed: Vincent Kwabena Damuah and the Afrikania Movement, 1982–2000,” in Christianity and the African Imagination: Essays in Honour of Adrian Hastings, ed. David Maxwell and Ingrid Lawrie (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 271–94
• Kofi Asare Opoku, “Damuah and the Afrikania Mission: The Man and his Message: Some Preliminary Considerations,” Trinity Journal of Church and Theology 3, no. 1 (1993): 39–60