Mr. Isa Demircan, Director of the Human Development Association one of the project support organizations signing the agreement as the National Chief Imam and Sheikh Ibrahim Mustapha.
Three Turkish non-governmental organizations have rushed to the rescue of the stalled Kawokudi national mosque project.
A deal to that effect was signed between representatives of the Turkish organizations and the National Chief Imam Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu on behalf of the Muslim community at a brief ceremony in Accra last Tuesday. Sheikh Mustapha Ibrahim, Chairman of the Islamic Council on Development and Humanitarian Services (ICODEHS) witnessed the signing.
By the deal, the three Turkish organizations, Diyanet of Turkey, Human Development Association and the Ghana Friendship and Mutual Aid Society, a Turkish organization operating in Ghana, will fund the $5 million project which hopefully is expected to be completed in the next three years.
The Saudis who were at the forefront of the project during its take-off have subtly withdrawn from it perhaps because the beneficiaries were unable to meet the conditions they set out.
The Saudis, it will be recalled, demanded among other conditions that the project be phased and they responsible for naming the mosque upon completion.
Individual contributions towards mosque constructions in the country have by and large suffered challenges of consistency and integrity as in the case of the project under review. The Chief Imam has often campaigned for contributions for the project, responses to which have remained insignificant.
The site was given to Ghanaian Muslims on 14th February 1995 by the government following the usurpation of a land allocation at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle area to Moslems to placate them for the demolition of the age-long Okaishie Central Mosque during the coup of 1979. The Abossey Okai Central Mosque for now represents the main Accra mosque as it houses the Chief Imam?s offices. It was constructed with a substantial financial support by a Lebanese businessman, Fattal as a replacement for the Accra Central Mosque now Rawlings Park and was opened by the late Mr. B.A. Yakubu, one-time Inspector General of Police.
Perhaps the new deal will pave way for Ghanaians to have a befitting national mosque.
By A.R. Gomda
