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THEand I start with this observation: during the construction of the new mosque of Nima – and this lasted for many years – no church leader or Christian denomination approached the Islamic community with a donation for its realization. The Islamic community assumed its sole responsibility until outside help came to finish it. It is a fact now firmly recorded in our spiritual history. None of the Christian denominations, nor their leaders, used the “peaceful coexistence” argument to come forward and solicit donations to complete the mosque. Indeed, some of them, like charismatics / evangelicals do not even recognize Islam as religion and Muhammad (PBABH) as Prophet / Messenger of God (Allah). They openly argue that Muslims would not go to heaven and that Jesus Christ (Nabi Issah to Muslims) their Lord and Savior, is the only true way. So why all of a sudden this hypocrisy to solicit the financial contribution of the National Chief Imam for the construction of the cathedral? They also overlooked or ignored the fact that he does not represent all Muslims in doctrinal matters. Moreover, no government, including the present one, has ever exploited the full power of state and government to raise a pesewa for the mosque as it is for the cathedral. Now even our national budget is making room for the cathedral, and government and state officials are flocking all over the country and abroad to solicit funds on our behalf. It is a provocation of the first order …
Having paraded the centenary National Chief Imam in front of the cameras to make a creeping “donation” to Akufo-Addo Cathedral was not only a dishonor for the Islamic leader personally, but a slap in the face and disrespect to the entire Ghanaian Muslim community. If the Christian community and the rulers saw no point in helping to build the new mosque, how dare they try to force Ghanaian Muslims through the Chief Imam to sponsor a Christocentric political emblem? ! Nana Addo sets dangerous precedents and those who should rule her encourage her instead. The dismissal of Charlotte Osei, President of the Electoral Commission; the desecration of our national and African solidarity celebrations; the corruption of our electoral system; the selective prosecution / persecution of political opponents; the injection of religion into our secular political culture and who knows what else is hiding in the shadows ?! They all remained silent.
Because this absurd cathedral satisfies a certain Christian hegemony in our body politic, church leaders, traditional and evangelical, have all rallied behind it, with the courageous exception of the Catholic Church, even though Catholic Archbishop Palmer -Buckle let himself be an accomplice. in this nugatory caper.
Nana Addo is a cynical politician; he knows how to exploit a situation to his political advantage. This so called National Cathedral was coldly calculated to exploit Christian credulity / sensibility for political gain and it got it all! Christian leaders see it as an advancement of their religion and therefore feel no awareness behind it. Nana Addo often speaks of the “majority”, that is to say Christians in relation to other faiths, to justify his “commitment” to his God, but he should not underestimate a passionate and radicalized “minority” whose critical mass could decide the balance between peace and instability in Ghana. Ghanaian religious communities are very peaceful, living in peace for generations, until now, with this government playing on our religious differences. When Nana Addo’s Rasputin disrespected this same national chief imam in one of his religious outpourings – inspired by his patronage of this government, some young people mobilized to teach him a lesson, but the magnanimity of the imam saved him and his church. The Imam has proven time and time again that he is a magnanimous force for good and therefore should not be compromised in partisan political games.
Isn’t it ironic, but also reckless, that with all of our needs, problems, unfulfilled aspirations and disruptive political partisanship, a religious dispute has become the center of our “priorities”? Something went wrong – a dislocation. Nothing can justify the inclusion of the Imam in this program of cathedrals. Was it pressure from Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr Alhaji Bawumia, Archbishop Duncan-Williams, Archbishop Palmer-Buckle, the “Old Man’s” own advisers or some of Jubilee House’s “fixers”? ? Whoever or whatever, bringing in the Imam, was a desperate roll of the dice on an issue that is not accepted by the nation. As I said in a previous comment, they defiled the reverent position of the Imam. The ruse was strongly condemned, with some Muslims accusing it of “haram”. It’s like telling Archbishops Palmer-Buckle and Duncan-Williams that they have lost their anointing – which may be pending! And all because of Nana Addo’s ego trip. We must not only be wary of Greeks carrying gifts, but of a politician offering a religious gift … And besides, they want to take “by force” our rosewood seized from smugglers at the cathedral while in in all fairness, they should be eliminated from a public auction for any Ghanaian interested in buying. This is how to glorify the name of God: justice, responsibility and equity.
A postscript
After this sordid politico-religious melodrama involving a “donation” of 50,000 GhC: A wish, a hope, a prayer: May our country use wisely its democracy, its electoral process and its freedom of worship to allow the land to flourish for the benefit of all citizens
With. Abdul-Rahman Harruna Attah, MOV
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