Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has called on Muslims to live peacefully with other religious faiths in order to enhance the country’s development.
He also called for frank and honest debate in the sharing of the nation’s resources to address the concerns of groups who feel marginalized in the society.
Vice President Amissah-Arthur made the call at the 84th Annual National Convention (Jalsa) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Ghana, at Pomadze near Winneba Junction.
The three-day convention which is on the theme: “Tolerance and peaceful co-existence, a pre-requisite for progressive nation building”, is to enable every sincere individual to personally experience religious benefits as well as enhance their knowledge by Allah.
Vice President Amissah-Arthur also said despite the diverse religious and ethnic groups, Ghana has been successful in bringing the different groups together and avoiding the worse examples of intolerance.
He said the nation needs to do more especially in the creations of conditions for balance development which requires greater citizen’s participation and better appreciation of their respective roles.
He charged the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission to intensify its religious education among the youth in terms of moral and spiritual upbringing in order to ensure peace and stability necessary for nation building.
Vice President Amissah-Arthur also charged the adherents of both Muslim and Christian faith to be tolerance of others and not to attack each other because of certain interpretation of their religion.
He said the Muslim religion is not a violent religion, but it is only some misguided people who would want to use the religion to create conflict, adding, that it is important for all of us to combine to stop the extremists in our mist.
Alhajj Maulvi Noor Mohammed Bin Salih, Ameer and Missionary in-Charge of Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, called on the political leaders of the country to cultivate the spirit of service and sacrifice, which he said are necessary to selfless approach to politics.
He charged them to stop the pettiness and come out with innovative programmes that would help create a peaceful environment and ease the burden on the people.
He said politics in its true and correct approach and application should have a positive role in the promotion of peace and national development.
Alhajj Maulvi Bin Salih also stated that politics, just like religion in the hand of a fanatic, a pervert or an avaricious person, can be a dangerous tool for wreaking havoc on the society.
He said it is the collective responsibility of all the people to defend the life and civil liberties of all citizens to ensure peace and tranquility of every individual regardless of their faith.
“We need to act here and now to tackle this violent extremism problem in all its dimensions, whether political, economic, social and religious,” he said.
Alhajj Maulvi Bin Salih further stated that nature of national politics with its lava of hatred that erupts from time to time between the political divide in the country accounts for most of the prevalent disorders and inherent dangers to national peace and cohesion.
He said politics has been negatively applied and this mis-application has succeeded in breeding intolerance among the people.
He called for measures on the part of the people to deal with the issue of intolerance, which he describe as poisonous and once deeply rooted become difficult to be easily rooted out.
Source: GNA
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