Muslim leaders in the country have been urged to jealously guard the peace and unity the country is enjoying to ensure the developments in their deprived communities.
How can you live in a state of squalor and fight among yourselves because of the differences in ideologies a Minister of State has questioned?
Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, Minister of State at the Office of the Vice President made the call when he represented his boss Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia at this year’s celebrations of Mauleed organized by the Council of Tijaniya Muslims in Prang in the Brong Ahafo region over the week end.
According to him, peace and tranquillity ensures development and without peace there will be no development whatsoever.
”And in recent times Moslems who live in the deprived areas of the country are crying for development hence the president’s establishment of Ministry of Inner-City and Zongo Development and the Zongo Development Fund (ZoFD) to provide tailor-made programmes for the improvement of lives in the Zongos across the country. And this cannot be achieved if we begin to use clubs to settle our differences” he stressed.
Alhaji Boniface reminded Muslims in the country to jealously guard the peace the country is enjoying by living in peace and harmony.
He noted that the sustenance of peace among all Muslim religious sects is vital for the development of the country and Zongos.
The Minister of State who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina Constituency in the Greater Accra Region said the government is on track to achieve economy empowerment and issues of intra-conflict will derail all these gains.
He further told his Muslim brothers and sisters to exercise patience with the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) as it rolls out policies and programmes to meet their aspirations adding that by next year things will be better than before.
He explained that when there is peace among brothers, development strives likewise there cannot be development in a volatile situation.
He reminded them that the recent intra -religious conflict that reared its ugly head between the supporters of Sheiwu Ahmed Abdul Faid Khalifa and the supporters of the National Chief Imam Sheikh Nuhu Sharubutu was a bane of worry to the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He minces no words to say the recent happenings in the front of the Tijaniya sect led by the two supreme leaders of the sect negates the tenets of Islam, which preaches peace all the time.
He said NPP is not prepared to harbour conflict among brothers and sisters in Islam adding that the NPP is a party that tolerates religious differences and will not sit aloof for brothers and sisters of the same religious sect to fight in the name of ideologies and religious difference.
Explained that recent happenings especially in the Greater Accra region over the last couple days between the two sects have made it difficult for the Islamic religion to shirk the tag that all Muslims are violent.
This, has culminated in many followers of the religion not to be respected irrespective of the good they are doing to the society.
It is these happenings that made these same people to think that the front of the Tijaniya sect led by the two supreme leaders are violent which is not the case he quickly added.
Present at the Mauleed celebrations were the National Nasara Coordinator of the NPP; Abdul Aziz Futa, Deputy Minister for Energy Amin Anta, District Chief Executive for Pru West, Mr. Stephen Jalula, Executive Director of National Service Secretariat Mustapha Usif among others.