Coalition to hold national conference to enhance Muslim leadership capacity

The Coalition of Muslim Organisations, Ghana (COMOG), will hold a national conference to establish a stakeholder platform to work towards enhancing the capacity of Muslim leadership.

The move is to help address the needs of the Muslim communities and contribute to Ghana’s development agenda.

The conference will also seek to develop a national Muslim leadership framework as well as an effective database of the Muslim ummah.

A statement issued in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency by Hajj Abdel-Manan Abdel-Rahman, the Conference Coordinator, said the two-day national conference is in collaboration with the Advisory Board of the Office of the National Chief Imam and the Muslim caucus in Parliament.

Other collaborators include the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, Ministry of National Security, Ministry of Zongo and Inner City Development, and National Council of Zongo Chiefs.

The conference, which would be held February 7 to 9, 2020, is on the theme: “Enhancing the Capacity of Muslim Leadership for Ghana’s Development.”

It said the absence of a common national platform to regularly deliberate and synergise the efforts of Muslims had undercut the impact of struggles on the national development agenda.

It said Muslims continued to face challenges such as discrimination against women at their work places and students in educational institutions.

“At the same time, our nation has reaped very little benefits from Islamic values and approach to achieving sustainable development.”

“Thus, the need for regular national stakeholder meetings of all Muslims to produce a communique on development, governance and religious matters is long overdue,” it said.

The statement said the lack of a national platform made it difficult on the clear direction on the selection of Imams at all levels and, especially, for the newly created regions.

The conference is as a result of consultations with many stakeholders, including chiefs since 2016, the statement added.