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A lecturer of Church History at the Department of Religion at the University of Cape Coast, Dr. Worlanyo Bansa, has said the comment about perceived religious imbalance at the presidency made by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, running mate to the New Patriotic Party’s Presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo is not offensive.

According to Dr. Worlanyo Bansa, Dr. Bawumia’s comment is a true reflection of what is happening currently.

“I don’t see anything offensive about that statement. Dr. Bawumia is only asking for inclusiveness in government in terms of religious balance,” he said in an interview on Eyewitness News.

In Dr. Bawumia’s view, the current seat of government is occupied by persons who are mainly from the Christian fraternity which to him does not create the needed balance within the highest political positions in Ghana. 

The NPP running mate also suggested that because the President is a Christian, his Vice should have been a Muslim as has  been deliberately done by his party over the years to create a balance.

The former Deputy Bank of Ghana Governor has since been rebuked for the comments. The National Peace Council, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante had also described the comment as “unfortunate.”

But the Church History lecturer, Dr. Bansa, argued that the statement was not to incite Muslims against Christians or vice versa.

“Article 21 (b) of the 1992 Constitution states that, all persons shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and belief which includes academic freedom and the section C says that all persons shall have the right to freedom to practice any religion and to manifest such practice. By this, no particular religion has been declared as the national religion of Ghana.”

“Currently, from my analysis of the statement made by Dr. Bawumia, we see our President, his Vice, speaker of Parliament and Chief Justice are all Christians. The question one would ask is, where is the representation of other religions particularly when we are talking about Islam or Muslim sphere which forms the other force of religious domination in Ghana. So I don’t see the statement as any incitement or an attempt to breach the peace or cause havoc in Ghana.”

He further explained that “within our system, we recognize the fact that religions must coexist and play equal part and role in our national politics. So for me, it’s just a reinforcement of that practice that has been going on.”

He downplayed attempts by critics to compare Dr. Bawumia’s statement to that of former Transport Minister, Dzifa Attivor.

Bawumia’s critics hypocritical

The National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Sammy Awuku, has also defended the Dr. Bawumia’s comments saying those criticizing him are being too “hypocritical” since to him, “religion has a role to play in our politics.”