General News of Monday, 6 April 2020

Source: GNA

Coronavirus impacts Muslim Mission activities

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The Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the Ghana Muslim Mission, Suleiman Nii Okai Aryee, on Sunday said the COVID-19 has had a lot of impact on the activities of the Mission; spiritually, socially, and financially.

He said the COVID-19 had affected this years’ Action Plan of the regional executives, adding that all their plans could not be achieved due to the pandemic.

“There are no Jummah prayers, Branch meetings, Mass meetings, Tahaju prayers, and regional conference all due to the COVID-19 and actions taken by government to curb its spread,” Nii Okai Aryee told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra.

He said: “Due to the COVID-19 the Mission had revised every aspect of our action plan for the year including Ramadan and all the Eid activities in order to save the little financial resources available to the Mission”.

Although the Mission had been hit financially by the virus, it had put in measures to reduce the impact on members, especially the less privileged, by selecting five members each from each branch across the region for support, he said.

“We are in constant communication with the branch chairmen encouraging them to check on the welfare of individual members. To reduce the impact on the members we have also asked them to submit the names of five less privileged people from their respective branches so we can provide some form of material support,” he said.

Nii Okai Aryee said few items had been purchased and the location and contact numbers of the affected members had been provided to make it easier for identification and distribution.

“We are in constant communication with the Regional Imam’s office, discussing various options should the lockdown go beyond two weeks,” he said.

He advised members to abide by the restrictions and follow advice by the Government and the Ghana Health Service, which were all in accordance with Islamic teachings.