Religious leaders urged to ensure peace

Spread, September 13/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

VICE-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama has challenged religious leaders in the country to use their good counsel to impress on their followers to eschew acts of violence that could mar the peace and stability of the country before, during and after the December elections.
“You have large followers who listen and respect your thoughts and the government, therefore, is looking up to you to contribute your quota towards ensuring peaceful elections this year,” Alhaji Mahama said this when he received Sheikh Umar Ibrahim Imam, the Chief Imam of the Ahlussunna Wal Jama, at the Castle, Osu, yesterday.
The Vice-President’s call comes at a time when the churches in Ghana have declared a week’s fasting and prayer in the country towards peaceful elections.
The call for peaceful elections in the December polls has been intensified from all angles following the disturbances that characterised the registration of new voters by the Electoral Commission (EC) last month.
It also follows the firing of gunshots by some unidentified people at Tamale and the acts of arson and killing of innocent people in Tamale and Gushiegu.
Alhaji Mahama said, “This country needs to nurture the peace it is enjoying now and to achieve this, we, particularly the leaders, must play a role in that respect.”
He said religious leaders must not allow politicians to infiltrate their camps to mislead them.
“You need not allow politicians to come to you to mislead your people into doing what they have not intended to do,” he said.
Alhaji Mahama asked them to let the message of peace and the need for unity dominate their preaching to their followers.
He said it was against this background that the people would appreciate the need for peace and to jealously protect the stability and unity that they enjoyed presently.
The Vice-President used the occasion to remind Muslims that the country was a secular state.
“We as Muslims should not concentrate all our efforts at learning the Koran alone but we must take advantage of the secular educational system to learn broadly,” he said.
Early on Alhaji Mahama was presented with a plaque by the Imam for his meritorious services to the nation in his capacity as Vice-President.
The Vice-President expressed gratitude to the Ahlussunnas for recognising his contributions to the development of the country.
“I feel honoured by this because it is a sign that somebody somewhere was watching and has seen what I have contributed so far,” he added.
Sheikh Ibrahim, whose speech was read on his behalf by an interpreter, said, “For the first time in our history, we have a Muslim as Vice-President.”
He said the Vice-President by his dedication to duty had become a role model to Muslims and prayed for him in his future endeavours after serving the nation in his present capacity.