Mahama’s ‘mortuary promise’ anti-Islamic, absurd – NPP

Abdul-Aziz Haruna Futa, the National Nasara Coordinator of the ruling New Patriotic Partey has described as ‘anti-Islamic and absurd’ a promise by the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama to lessen the burden on families of deceased Muslims by ensuring that their departed relatives are buried in accordance with Islamic rules and customs.

John Mahama in a Woezor TV interview said the NDC will institute special funeral homes in Zongo communities to carry out burials with strict adherence to the tenets of the Islamic religion.

Mahama’s was however misquoted as saying that he will build more mortuaries in Zongo communities which forced a reaction from his communication team.

Excerpts of a statement issued by his campaign team on Monday, September 21 read "The attention of the JOHN MAHAMA 2020 Campaign has been drawn to a false, misleading and inaccurate claims in publications carried by sections of the online media titled “2020 elections: Mahama promises more mortuaries for Zongo communities,” the campaign team said in a rejoinder.

"For the records, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Dramani Mahama, during a live interview with TV XYZ and Woezor TV, took the opportunity to highlight his party’s proposed interventions in the People’s Manifesto for Zongos and Deprived Urban Settlements."

But Aziz Haruna insists any attempt to build mortuaries or funeral homes in Zongo communities is an outright betrayal of the Islamic rules.

In a statement copied to www.ghanaweb.com, Aziz Haruna said that the promise is an indication of the NDC’s intention to deceive people in Zongo communities.

He bemoaned of all the challenges that persist in Zongo communities, the relatively irrelevant matter of burial service is what Mahama intends to address.

He also enumerated some of the achievements of the NPP in Zongo communities.

“We find this promise very absurd and an insult to the people of Zongo across the country. It is a fact that the NDC has never made any Manifesto promise to the people of Zongo aside the repeated lies that the NPP will deport them when they win political power. The Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo rather gave more recognition and attention to the numerous challenges affecting the Zongo Communities”.

“According to Islamic traditions, the moment someone dies whether in the hospital or home. Steps are hurriedly initiated to prepare the body for burial which includes grave digging and bathing the corpse known as Janaza. Muslims do not preserve their dead bodies to be buried at a later date. So what is the essence of building mortuaries in Zongos?. This clearly shows that the much-touted people's manifesto is nothing but a ruse meant to deceive the people of Zongo”, parts of the statement read.

Below is the full statement