I have nothing against Muslims – Subin MP explains 'misconstrued' comments

The Member of Parliament for Subin Constituency in the Ashanti region, Eugene Boakye Antwi has stated that he has nothing against Muslims.

According to him, his comments about Akans and Christians leading the New Patriotic Party (NPP) were based on factual data rather than any personal biases.

He explained that the said comment was made in reference to Ghana's recent census data, which indicated that approximately 71% of the country's population identifies as Christians.

He further highlighted that within the political landscape, the NPP has a strong support base predominantly composed of Akans and Christians.

He added that “Even for me, my grandmother is Asante Nkremo, she is called Fatima, so what do I have against Muslims? I am saying even in my father's house, they call the place a Muslim house, so what do I have against Muslims?"

He reiterated that his remarks were not intended to promote any tribal or religious bias but were instead an analysis of the prevailing political dynamics in Ghana.

"I am just stating the obvious facts because everyone needs to assess his/her strength to know one's weaknesses in any competition," Eugene added, emphasizing the importance of understanding the demographic composition and support bases of political parties in order to gauge their electoral prospects accurately.

Eugene further explained that his reference to the dominance of Christians and Akans within the NPP was based on statistical data and parliamentary representation. Out of the total 137 plus one parliamentarians, he noted that 117 hailed from regions with a significant Christian and Akan population, including Greater Accra.

He argued that his observations were grounded in these statistics and therefore did not constitute any form of wrongdoing.
The Subin legislator acknowledged that his comments may have been subject to misinterpretation, leading to concerns and responses from various quarters.

However, he maintained that his intention was to present a factual analysis of the political landscape and the composition of different parties' support bases.

“There are no religious sentiments, and no flagbearer angle, I am just stating the obvious facts because everyone needs to assess his /her strength to know one’s weaknesses in any competition.

“…what I said was that recently they released a census, which said that we have over 71% of people in Ghana who are Christians, secondly, I referenced the census to make my argument, whereby the data proved that the strength of the NPP is mostly dominated by Akans and Christians.

“So, our strength is 71 percent of the population and over 50% Akans by default, so, I was saying that when you take a look at parliament, out of the 137 plus one parliamentarians, 117 of them are from where Christians and Akans, including Greater Accra. So, if I say this, have I said anything wrong?”



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