The NPP has been struggling to defend the arrogant tag on their running mate, Matthew Opoku Prempeh popularly reffered to as Napo since his appointment to partner their Presidential Candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for the 2024 presidential elections.
As they push hard to make the electorates believe that he is not arrogant, pompous, deceitful, divisive, ethnocentric and so on and so forth, he also tries hard to make sure that the NPP’s endeavour to defend and project him become fruitless. He keeps whispering to the NPP that he is what Ghanaians believe he is and no amount of dust covering will succeed.
Just recently in the news, Napo was heard at the Yaa Naa’s Palace in Yendi saying; “If you are a Muslim and you vote for the NDC, it is a haram. If you are an Imam and you pray for Mahama to win instead of Bawumia, it is also a haram. The NDC only uses Muslims and Northerners for votes; they don’t truly work to uplift their communities.”
He proceeded in other campaign rallies in Northern and Savannah regions to accuse the NDC of removing mosques from our national currency and sacking Haruna Iddrisu and Muntaka Mubarak from the their minority leadership positions only because they are Muslims. He also did not end but also accuse the NDC of only promising to build mortuaries for the Zongos and Muslim communities.
Only arrogant, divisionists and satanic characters will speak the way Napo spoke. He may have learnt from his boss because in 2016, Bawumia urged Muslims to vote for him to represent Muslim interest while Nana Addo represents Chiristian interest. This deceit was accepted in 2016 and not much have been done to show that what Bawumia did for Muslims matches what Mahama, who is non Muslim did.
First, if the NPP and Napo is so concerned that a mosque must have a place in our national currency, why did they not actualize that on assuming power in the year 2000 and in the 2007 redomination of the Ghana cedi? Why have they again failed from 2017 till now, a time Napo became a cabinet minister and running mate, and had more power?
Very unfortunate when it is heard from a NPP running mate that Hon. Haruna Iddrisu and Hon. Muntaka Mubarak were exited from the Minority Leader and Minority Chief Whip positions respectively because they are Muslims. This is dangerious because Napo is lettered and he knows the official communication did not indicate anywhere that they were been replaced because they are Muslims.
Instead of saying he wants to deceive Muslims for votes, he was rather accusing the NDC wrongly. If he were not to be a blind ‘Islamic Scholar,’ he would have known that the podium in which he was addressing the crowd was with him Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor, a non Muslim and NPP Candidate for Damango. Is it not haram for a Muslim to vote for Abu Jinapor who is contesting a Muslim NDC candidate, Adam Mutawakilu?
If the NPP’s running mate so much care about Muslims occupying high positions, then he should go ahead and push for the withdrawal of all NPP non Muslim candidates contesting NDC Muslim candidates. So Samuel Abu Jinapor and many others must give way for NDC Muslim candidates to go to parliament.
The NPP running mate is also a dentist and so in the health profession. He must understand that the mortuaries as operated in Ghana offend Islamic traditions and customs. The NDC realizing this unfair treatment promised in the Resetting Ghana Manifesto to “establish Islamic morgues at some major hospitals for the early retrieval and burial of corpses according to Islamic customs.”
Some unfortunate incidents like accidents, shootings and other deaths associated with crime may raise the need for investigations by the police and other relevant authorities. We have seen Muslim corpses deposited in traditional motuaries over incidents like these and the treatment of the such bodies is not Islamic. If Islamic motuaries are available to address this challenge, then there is progress. Why must anybody seeking the presidency be thinking backwards?
The NPP in 2020 promised to build 16 model high schools in the Zongos and Islamic communities. Has Napo been able to account for a single one built so far? Several other promises including scholarships, economic empowerment, sanitation, water, lower Hajj fairs among others have all gargantuanly failed.
President Mahama’s message in the manifesto is what is making Napo livid hence the satanic tantrums. Ghana will for the first time attain full membership status of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) so that cheap finance can be raised to solve the numerous developmental challenges faced in Islamic Communities. Islamic tertiary and high schools will be built. More health centers will come on board and monies will be made available to support SMEs owned by Muslims. Providing scholarships to Muslim students, particularly in the fields of Law, Medicine, Engineering, and ICT will also be a priority.
President Mahama has also promised to grant an additional holiday for Eid celebrations; address all forms of discrimination against Muslims, especially discrimination against women who are prevented from wearing the Hijab in school, at work, and other public places; and review the marriage of Mohammedans Ordinance, 1951 Cap 129 and streamline the legal framework for the recognition and certification of Muslim marriages in Ghana. Readers are encouraged to refer to page 122 of the Resetting Ghana Manifesto, 2024 for more information.
Extortionist Hajj fairs is also a great concern to Muslims given that the fairs have increased from GH¢11,900 in 2016 to GH¢75,000 in 2024, highest in the sub-region. This does not include the corrupt charges pilgrims wailed about under this administration. Muslims getting stranded on yearly basis at the Hajj Village is also worthy of note.
To address this, John Mahama is promising to implement measures to ensure transparency in the Hajj management; support pilgrims within the middle belt to fly directly from Kumasi to Saudi Arabia and ensure that Hajj fairs are moderate and affordable.
Muslims will not buy into the hollow and scary voice of Napo. He will not be given ears because Mahama has done better for Muslims and has promised to do better campared to Bawumia. Even if Muslims decide to buy into this divisive idea, will Bawumia survive? According to the 2021 Population and Housing Census, there are 71.3 percent of Christians as against only 19.9 percent of Muslims. Holding all other factors constant, a Christian John Mahama will get 71.3 percent of the votes as against a Muslim Bawumia getting 19.9 percent of the votes. Clearly Napo is illogical and an embarrassment to the NPP.
The NDC and John Mahama has done great things for the Zongos and Muslim communities and the sweet promises of the NPP in 2016 and 2020 have failed to match. No wonder the competence of Dr. Bawumia is ignored for the unwarranted religious card.
Source: Taluta Gbanha Mahama| Sissala West District| Contributor
