Pay us salary -Imam appeals to leaders

Mankessim (C/R), Jan 16, GNA - The Mankessim Chief Imam of the Muslim Community, Alhaji Issaka Aidoo, has called on the leadership of the religion to introduce a salary structure or an incentive package for Imams and other workers of the faith.

Alhaji Aidoo said the present condition where Imams and other leaders were asked to do voluntary work was retarding the development of the religion.

"Our under development can be attributed to the inability to motivate our Imams and workers," the Imam stated in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Mankessim. "There is no free lunch these days as the global economy does not support that," he stated.

He appealed to the leadership of the religion to take a cue from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, which managed to pay its missionaries. Alhaji Aidoo who said he had worked as an Imam for 45 years suggested the establishment of secretariats at the regional and national levels where collection and donations from various Muslim Communities could be managed for the general use and development of the religion. The present situation where each community manage its own income is not helping the religion, he said.

The Chief Imam stated that the time had come for the religion embark on intensive evangelism to win more souls for Allah but said this could be done effectively only when an incentive package was introduced.