The Coalition of Muslim Organisations, Ghana, has refuted claims suggesting that the Government of Ghana spent state resources during the construction of the National Mosque at Kanda.
In a statement on Monday, June 13, the Coalition categorically denied the claims which they said were made by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Cathedral, Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah, during an interview on GTV on Sunday, June 12.
“We, the Coalition of Muslim Organizations, Ghana, on behalf of all Muslims organizations in Ghana wish to state unequivocally, and without any fear or favour that, not a single pesewa from the state by any political regime was contributed to the construction of the Kanda National Mosque.
“The CEO of the National Cathedral made this statement in an attempt to justify the Thompson Road sum of over GHc25 million of state resources as seed money for the construction of the most controversial project in Ghana today, the National Cathedral.
“As a Muslim Organization with the mandate to protect the image and sanctity of Islam and the reputation of the Ummah in Ghana, we can’t tolerate such a deliberate falsehood by a high profile appointee of Dr. Opoku-Mensah’s stature when indeed, the facts do not support his claim”, portion of the statement read.
The Coalition continued; that, “contrary to his statement, we Muslims have rather been shortchanged in the matter of our Accra Central Mosque which was pulled down by the state, only for Government to compensate us with a bare land for that loss. Our magnanimity towards the state and our commitment to peaceful coexistence must not be misconstrued by some people to be a weakness”.
Having expressed their reservations, the Coalition called on the CEO of the National Cathedral to apologise for his comments.
“We therefore, by this statement wish to call on Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah to come out and retract that deliberate falsehood and apologize to the entire Muslim Ummah Ghana. We also demand that, this rejoinder be read in the next edition of GTV Talking Point program, to correct the falsehood,” the statement concluded.
Below is the full statement:
