The Public Relations Officer of the National Hajj Board, Abdulai Rahman Alhassan Gomda, has described as strange, calls for the government to disassociate itself from religious activities including the annual hajj pilgrimage for Muslims in the country.
According to him, the premise for such calls is misplaced as the government only acts as a facilitator of the pilgrimage.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Monday [March 13, 2017], Alhaji Gomda said, “It is strange because the impression itself is wrong. The impression that government is heavily involved in the matters of the hajj. There is a limited involvement of government regarding this issue. The government doesn’t pay for pilgrims to go on hajj, people pay for themselves.”
A member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), James Kwabena Bomfeh, last week filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging government’s decision to build a national cathedral.
According to him, the government must not be engaged in religious affairs in the country, and therefore it’s assistance to Muslim pilgrims through the hajj board must be declared unconstitutional and illegal.
In his writ, he is seeking “a declaration that the decision of the Government of Ghana to purposely endorse, assist, aid, partly sponsor, and/or support the construction of a National Cathedral near the State House of Ghana, for Christian interdenominational church services amounts to an excessive entanglement of the Republic of Ghana and religion and therefore unconstitutional”.
He is also seeking “a declaration that the setting up of a Hajj Board by the Government of the Republic of Ghana for the purpose of coordinating, supporting and/or aiding Ghanaian Muslims to embark on a religious pilgrimage to Mecca”, is unconstitutional.
But according to Mr. Gomda, there is no challenge with government getting involved in the building of a national cathedral although the country is a secular state.
“Ghana is a secular state, but like the Christian Council has explained, I think we are exaggerating the whole thing. The government has not really provided money for the construction of that structure as being peddled.”
President Akufo-Addo on 6th March 2017 cut the sod for the construction of a national non-denominational Christian worship center.
According to Akufo-Addo, the lack of such infrastructure in the country prompted him to take the initiative which he said will serve a very important purpose for the Christian community in the country.
Some Ghanaians have however raised concerns with the president’s decision to undertake the project which will be funded by the Christian community in the country.
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