Bawumia has no agenda to make Ghana Islamic nation – Abdul-Hamid
Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, a religious scholar and former Minister of Information, has dismissed claims that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia's presidential ambitions are part of an agenda to turn Ghana into an Islamic state.
He said the voting patterns of Ghanaian Muslims in the 2024 presidential election demonstrated that religious identity did not determine their political choices and, therefore, could not be used to suggest that a Muslim presidency would transform Ghana into an Islamic nation.
Dr Abdul-Hamid, who is also an aspirant for the First National Vice Chairman position of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), made the assertion when he delivered the 2026 Liberty Lecture organised by the Danquah Institute in Accra.
The lecture was on the theme: “One Nation, Many Faiths: Emerging Threats to Religious Tolerance in Ghana.”
He said if there were a coordinated agenda among Ghanaian Muslims to Islamise the country, Dr Bawumia's candidature as the NPP's presidential candidate in the 2024 elections would have provided an opportunity for Muslims to rally around him on religious grounds.
“If such an agenda existed, Mr Chairman, the candidacy of Mahamudu Bawumia would have been the catalyst and his candidature would have been the opportunity for Muslims to rally around such an agenda, but they didn't,” he said.
Dr Abdul-Hamid said several Muslim-dominated constituencies instead voted massively for President John Dramani Mahama, a Christian, over Dr Bawumia in the 2024 elections.
He cited Ayawaso East, Ayawaso North, Asawasi, Ejura, Tamale North, Tamale Central, Tamale South and Sagnarigu as examples, saying their voting patterns demonstrated that religious affiliation did not automatically translate into political allegiance.
He said the evidence showed that “consciously, in the Ghanaian psyche, our religious differences do not spill over into our political consideration.”
Dr Abdul-Hamid, therefore, cautioned against attempts to portray a potential Bawumia presidency as a religious project, saying the former Vice President had pursued an economic and developmental agenda throughout his professional and political career.
“Mahamudu Bawumia is seeking the presidency of Ghana not to reorder the religious destiny of our country,” he said.
He noted that Dr Bawumia's academic and professional background had been predominantly in economics, from his education and professional work at the Bank of Ghana to his tenure as Vice President.
He said Dr Bawumia's policy interventions as Vice President, including the national identification system and other economic initiatives, were intended to serve Ghanaians irrespective of their religious affiliations.
Dr Abdul-Hamid also rejected concerns that the proposed introduction of Arabic as an optional subject at the basic-school level was part of an “Islamisation agenda.”
He argued that Arabic was a language distinct from Islam and that learning it could provide Ghanaian students with opportunities in international commerce, diplomacy, education and investment.
“Arabic is a language separate and distinct from Islam,” he said, adding that Arab Christians also spoke Arabic and used the word “Allah” to refer to God.
He similarly dismissed concerns about interest-free banking, saying its adoption would expand financial options rather than impose Islamic practices on the wider population.
“The European experience demonstrates that Islamic banking is not about Islamizing a country. It is about widening financial options,” he said.
Dr Abdul-Hamid urged Ghanaians to resist attempts to exploit religious differences for political gain, particularly ahead of the 2028 general election.
He said Ghana's longstanding peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims had been sustained by mutual accommodation and should not be undermined by political narratives portraying either religious community as a threat to the other.
Dr Abdul-Hamid said Ghanaians were more concerned about jobs, good governance, security, education, healthcare and efficient public services than attempts to reorder the country's religious identity.
He urged the electorate to judge political candidates based on their competence, character and capacity to govern rather than their religious backgrounds.
GNA