Vice President Bawumia has expressed delight at the cordial relations that exist between Muslims and Christians in the country.
With time, he thinks the somehow frosty relations that used to exist between religious groups have improved tremendously.
Speaking at the Jubilee House Thursday evening to mark the Muslim IFTAR or futoor (the evening meal with which Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset), Dr. Bawumia said the people of Ghana have every reason to be thankful to God for the unity in the country despite the diversity of opinion and religious creed that prevails in the nation.
For him, even the fact that the celebration of this year’s Easter coincided with the observation of the holy month of Ramadan, is a clear message from God on the need to cherish, protect and keep the unity that exists between Christians and Muslims in Ghana.
“For us, it is a very interesting coincidence but maybe God is trying to tell us something, all of us, in terms of humanity. There is a message in there for us. I am sure notwithstanding our diversity, that we are all looking up to that one creator, that one God, the one Allah,” was how he put it.
He, therefore, noted that “we are very thankful for this particular blessing and we need to cherish it… that we are diverse as a people, but in Ghana, as the Chief Imam has said, we are very blessed.”
The Vice President, therefore, noted that Ghana is “by the Grace of God, the most peaceful country in West Africa, the second most peaceful country in West Africa.”
That, he said did not just happen and that the very fact that Ghanaians live in a country where all the different religions, especially, Muslims and Christians, get along so well”, largely accounts for peace associated with life in Ghana.
“We take it for granted, but other countries, when they come here and see how we interact, how Muslims go to churches and celebrate Christmas and even enjoy it more than the Christians…. and that Christians visit the Muslims and eat the Salah rice and meat very much more than the Muslims…. we have harmony and that is for me, part of the secret to the peace we have in Ghana,” Dr. Bawumia said.
Speaking through a spokesman, National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharabutu prayed for God’s protection for President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and the entire nation.
He asked God to grant Ghana peace within her borders and to extend the same to all other parts of the world where there is war or the threat of it.
Present were Reverend Father Andrew Campbell, the retired parish priest of Christ the King Church, and the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church, Rev Dr. Paul Frimpong Manso.
Others included Ministers of State as well as some members of the Diplomatic Corps, who were also in attendance.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondence