Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, should bow down his head in shame over his call on Muslims in the country to vote against the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its presidential nominee if they do not want to suffer discrimination, Alhaji Umar Bodinga, First Vice-Chair of the NPP in the Eastern Region, has said.

Mr Dauda, while addressing some Muslim youth in Koforidua in the Eastern Region, had said: “They [NPP] are accusing several Muslims of not being Ghanaians. In 2000, they claimed that over 631 Muslims were not Ghanaians in Adeiso. Today, that same person is in the Zongos trying to convince you and telling you things. The NPP that is talking to you today cannot be trusted. If you give them the chance to come to power again, they will do the same things to you.

"The NPP looked into my face and told me that because I am Moshie, I am not a Ghanaian and they challenged me to go to court until the court cleared me. These are the people we are talking about. My brothers and sisters, must you entertain someone who has hurt and deprived you in the past? These UP people are not people that the NDC and Muslims must listen to and trust.”

He continued: “The battle is between the NPP and the NDC in this election. Everyone must learn about their history so they can be guided into the future. Some speakers here have already spoken about the Aliens’ Compliance Order and all those things.

“When they were sacking people under the Aliens’ Compliance Order, it was a difficult issue. Many prominent Muslims in Koforidua were sacked and made to go away without their properties. My father was a prominent and wealthy man in the Brong Ahafo Region too, but Busia ordered them to go to their hometowns.”

Reacting to these comments on Accra News on Thursday, 11 August, Mr Bodinga said it was unfortunate that as the country was seeking to remain united ahead of the elections, a minister of state would go on such tangent.

“In any case, it cannot be true that the NPP is anti-Muslim, because we are the first political party in the fourth republic to have introduced a Muslim, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, to the seat of government as vice president of the Republic of Ghana,” he said, adding: “They [NDC] have rather turned Muslims into election-winning machines, who are only remembered during elections.”