Ghana’s former deputy minister of communication, Victoria Lakshmi Hamah, revealed in an interview that some of her colleagues in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) advised her to downplay her membership in the Hindu Monastery of Africa and her Hindu practice.
“I recall that when I was going for vetting, which is a public process when you’re being appointed to such a position (deputy minister), there were some concerns from some members of my political party not to announce to the entire Ghanian community or society that I am a member of the Hindu Monastery of Africa.
And that is because Ghana is predominantly a Christian community. So that was a bit of a challenge. But I refused, and I mentioned that I was a member of the Hindu Monastery of Africa,” Lakshmi said in an interview with Infinity Foundation at the backdrop of the World Hindu Conference.
The Hindu Monastery of Africa is the continent's first established Hindu monastery. Founded in 1975 by Swami Ghanananda Saraswati in Odorkor, Greater Accra Region, Ghana, it has grown to have more branches within Ghana and Togo. Philosophically, the monastery adheres to the tenets of Vedanta philosophy, with a particular emphasis on non-dualism.
Lakshmi says, “I realised that my coming out publicly, and also being in politics, and telling and informing about my religious affiliation with the monastery, would usually attract some kind of ignorant comment.”
The Ghanaian population is 75% Christian and 10% Muslim, with the rest made up of minority African religions and Hindus.
Lakshmi mentioned although there may be similarities between native African religions and Hinduism, the “native Ghanaian ideas of God, the traditional outlook of God has been adulterated because more families have become Christian or Muslims.”
She also informed that Hinduism suffers prejudices from the majority community in Ghana. They see it as “an old pagan thing reinforcing the traditional Ghanaian or African concept of God.”
“We are in a land where the majority of people think we belong to a religion that won’t take us to heaven. They say we go to hell.”