Gbese Mantse Nii Ayibonte has placed a one-month ban on Islamic burials within his jurisdiction until after the annual Homowo festival of the Ga indigenes.
The temporary ban, which will start on 11 May, dovetails into the Ga Traditional Council’s ban on noise making as a precursor to the festival.
Apart from Muslims, Churches have also been warned by the Council to adhere to the ban on noise making.
However, the Muslim community has not taken kindly to the burial ban.
Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu, spokesperson for Chief Imam Sheikh Nuhu Sharabutu described the ban as a threat to Muslims.
“We are threatened from one level to the other. Today it is noise making, tomorrow it is ‘don’t bury’ and the next day we don’t know what it will lead to. And if you look at the global nature of our community now and how diverse it is, you want to leave in a community where we all respect ourselves.
“We ought to respect the cultural values of each other but it should also not infringe on the rights of others to also express their religion, and I think that’s where we are heading to now and it can be a bit disturbing, especially when it has to do with funerals and the burial of the dead, and we don’t cause the dead otherwise we would have said all Muslims who are going to die should wait until we finish the Homowo and then you can begin to die,” he told Accra-based Starr FM.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
