In Burkina Faso, the phenomenon of public preaching in the streets is growing. In several street corners, or in traffic, preachers broadcast their message to the people using microphones. Even if at the level of certain religious leaders, it is assured that the practice is not authorized, it is becoming more and more perceptible and this worries certain populations, given the current context of the country.
With our correspondent in Ouagadougou, Yaya Boudani
With his makeshift sound equipment firmly fixed on his motorbike, Abraham Boussim, of the international mission “ Salvation Army “walks the streets of his sector. Three times a week to preach the word of God: It is I who go to people to preach to them. Jesus, even he, went to people. I like crossroads like that, that’s why it’s in crossroads, where people are gathered to be able to deliver the message. »
A practice variously appreciated by the populations. Most of those we met suggest that these sermons take place in places of worship. ” There are places that are specially made for that, churches, mosquessays a passerby. But going from six meters to six meters, stopping at the edge of the track, especially at the traffic lights, is not at all interesting. »
Supervise the practice
For the sociologist Salia Koné, the State must take measures to supervise these practices, given the current context of the country, marked by an exacerbation of violent extremism : ” It really is a problem that must be taken seriously. These sermons in the streets all the time, it’s not allowed. So there is a framework in which these sermons must be given, I also think that it can be a danger for the population insofar as there is also violent radicalism. Meanwhile, these preachers continue to spread their message.
At the level of the brand new Ministry of Religious and Customary Affairs, the situation of street corner sermons is being carefully monitored. According to Drissa Modeste Sessouma, the minister’s chief of staff, a law is being drafted. This law will aim to regulate all religious practices in Burkina Faso.
” This law will be a tool, once it is adopted, which will really make it possible to regulate this area and to take all the measures so that there is indeed a little order in these sermons that we encounter in the streets. Whether it is sermons that are given by nationals, sermons that are given by those who come from outside, the law will regulate that, explains Drissa Modeste Sessouma. Under what conditions must one preach, what are the authorizations and others that one must have, and also do some promotion by creating bridges between the different religious denominations so that there is this dialogue. And of course, the law, like any law, will provide for penalties, so there are penalties which are provided for, which will be in this law and which will be applied like any other law. »
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