Prof Frimpong Boateng
The Science, Environment and Innovation Minister’s solution to noise pollution in the country has ironically triggered an unnecessary uproar among members of the Islamic faith.
In a country where there is penchant to politicize every action, including remarks, ordinarily innocuous political appointees would do us a lot of good if they are mindful about their utterances.
Prof Frimpong Boateng might not have intended to be contemptuous to the Islamic faith, but the solution, which according to him, can address the noise pollution challenge in the country, is unproductive.
His conclusion, which informed his suggestion, is flawed by all standards: the ‘Call To Prayer’ is a spiritual ritual which is a critical segment of the Islamic prayers, one of its five pillars.
It cannot be reduced to social media messages.
More so the suggestion indicates that for him the ‘Call To Prayer’ is a major contributory factor to noise pollution.
We dread the consequences of his wild suggestion on the harmonious relationship existing between Muslims and Christians, a bond steeped in the country’s history.
We have observed the extra assignment the minister has bestowed upon his colleague Minister in charge of the Zongos: Hon Boniface Abubakar Saddique has been going from place to place in a desperate bid to douse the fire the Science Minister has stoked, albeit inadvertently.
We would like to call upon Muslims in the country not to regard Prof Frimpong Boateng’s remark as government position, as some mischievous politicians have sought to imply.
There is no way government would ask Muslims to resort to social media to call members of their faith to prayers and abandon the traditional Azan by the Muezzin.
Islam, an Abrahamic faith, is one of the two great religions in the world today.
Recently a leading politician in Germany told his compatriots to accept it as part of the country’s spiritual skyline.
Ghana is a secular state by all standards, the constitution attesting the basis for this clause.
It is therefore unthinkable for any politician to embark on such a wild assumption that an aspect of any of the two faiths can be, through a fiat or diktat, eradicated by a twist of the tongue.
The minister can hunt for noise pollutants at the marketplaces where ear disturbing PA systems are mounted by unauthorized aphrodisiac sellers to project their products.
There are more sources of noise pollution if the Prof cares to know.
Music CD sellers, who mount PA systems on their vehicles, create decibels with their noise that we would ask the Prof to turn his attention to them.
Anything bordering on faith is a landmine for political appointees and should be considered as such.
The NDC used political mischief to create a wedge between a section of the Zongos and the NPP as a strategy and exploited it until it faded out.
Prof Frimpong Boateng’s suggestion therefore came in handy, manna from heaven, for the NDC to prepackage a mischief.
We wish to ask that Muslims let bygone be bygone, especially as there is no such plans to stop the calling of the Azan, no never, it is unthinkable.