Vice President urges Muslims to unite for development

12 Jan 2011 172 news, social
Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday advised Muslim leaders and scholars to educate their members against infighting and other kinds of squabbles that undermine unity and development. “Muslim communities are among the most deprived in terms of poverty and illiteracy and it will be more expedient for you to unite and fight against such depravities.” The Vice President said these when a delegation of Muslims, led by Dr Sheik Nuhu Sharabutu, National Chief Iman, called on him at the Castle, Osu. The delegation was made up of sectional chiefs, Regional Chief Imams, Muslim scholars and leaders of various Islamic sects in the country. They were at the castle to first thank government for its support in the organization of last year’s Hajj to Mecca and to announce their feat in settling a protracted conflict that existed between Sultan Alhaji Umar Farouk, the Kumasi Zongo Chief and Chief Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim, President of Council of Muslim Chiefs in Kumasi. The one-and-a-half decade conflict did not only thwart the development efforts of Muslims in Kumasi, but also created fear and panic among the Muslim communities over the years in the Metropolis. Vice President Mahama commended the 10 Regional Chief Imams for amicably settling the Kumasi Muslim conflict, adding “I hope the settlement will serve as the floodgate to spur you on to educate your people against all kinds of division.” He gave the assurance that government would step up its activities to correct all mishaps that impacted negatively on last year’s Hajj. The Vice President said government would refund ticket fares of the over 300 Muslims who could not make the trip to the Holy land last year, while provisions were also underway to place them on the priority list of this year’s Hajj. Chief Baba Issa, Public Relations Officer of the National Council of Zongo Muslim Chiefs, said their leadership contacted some Muslim organizations to help promote and support Muslim education in deprived areas. As a result of the contacts, he said, charitable institutions in Jedda, Saudi Arabia had requested them to acquire a suitable location for them to build a university to cater for needy but brilliant children in Muslim communities. He said the organization had also offered to give scholarships to Ghanaian Muslim students to study Medicine, General Science and other disciplines in the next academic year.

Source: Ghana News Agency