[ 2016-05-03 ]

Rev. Asante slams Bawumia over religious comments
The Chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev.
Prof. Emmanuel Asante has described as
“unfortunate,” comments by running mate of the
New Patriotic Party (NPP) Flag bearer, Dr.
Mahamudu Bawumia, that the presidency is
religiously skewed.

Dr. Bawumia over the weekend accused the
presidency of being biased against Muslims in
terms of employment at the seat of government.

According to him, the Flagstaff House is occupied
by persons who are from the Christian fraternity
which according to him, does not create balance
within the highest political positions in Ghana.

“Another major issue that I want to bring to the
attention of the people is that; if we look at the
Flagstaff house today, it does not reflect the
people of Ghana in terms of religion.”

“We are in this country living peacefully and
nicely; Muslims and Christians. So we believe in
the NPP that Christians and Muslims should work
together and that is why whenever we pick a
flagbearer as a Christian, we pick a Muslim as a
vice. And when we come and pick a Muslim as a
flagbearer, we will pick a Christian as a vice. So
if, Insha Allah, Nana Akufo-Addo becomes
president, he will swear with the Bible and enter
the Flagstaff and I will swear with the Quran and
enter the flagstaff House. So when we combine the
Quran and the Bible, Ghana will be the major
beneficiary. The blessings of God will be on Ghana
if we have the two religions in the Flagstaff
House,” he said.

Dr Bawumia urged some NPP supporters in the
Sissala east district in the Upper West region to
vote for the NPP in the upcoming elections, in
order to bring religious balance to the
presidency.

But speaking to Citi News, Professor Emmanuel
Asante said such comments could trigger religious
extremism.

He therefore pleaded with politicians to desist
from making such divisive comments.

“If you make a statement of that nature,
harmful, though it might seem you are trying to
appeal to an Islamic community, you play it into
the hands of religious extremists who can use it
to cause havoc and I would want to say that it is
unfortunate that this will come from a man of his
caliber. I will plead with politicians in this
country to resist the temptation to play religious
cards when it comes to politics.”

Attivor must apologize

Prof Asante’s comments come days after he made a
similar call on the former Minister of Transport,
Dzifa Attivor to resign after she made comments
deemed ethnocentric.

Source - citifmonline.com

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