Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, has commended the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Ghana for their contributions to the development of the country over the past 100 years.

Speaking at the Centenary Anniversary of the Mission at Pomadze in the Central Region, Dr. Bawumia acknowledged the Ahmadiyya Community’s efforts to Ghana’s development.

“From its establishment in the Gold Coast a century ago, the Ahmadiyya Mission, undoubtedly, has contributed significantly to the state of Islam in Ghana today,” Dr. Bawumia said.

“The story of Islam in contemporary Ghana, especially the story of the continuous quest to propagate the true tenets of the religion, such as peace, equality, compassion, the pursuit of knowledge and respect for all, cannot be fully told without the remarkable contributions of the Ahmadiyya Community.”

“One hundred years after setting out a noble revival mission, the revival that the Ahmadiyya Mission Ghana aimed for has manifestations in the spheres of education, health, enhancement of social relations for the promotion of national peace, fostering co-existence in our multi-cultural and multi-religious country, as well as engendering good governance.”

The vice president reserved special praise to the Ahmadiyya Community for its efforts in the health sector and education, which, he said, was in line with his personal belief of transforming the youth through education and making education freely accessible to all.

“Two areas the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has made significant contributions, in its 100 years revival mission, which deserve much commendation, are education and the health sector, where the Community has built seven (7) hospitals.”

“As a staunch advocate for the development of the youth through education, I am highly impressed by the remarkable contributions and impact the Community has made in the education sector, throughout the country.”

“To have built a total of 315 schools at the primary, junior and senior high school levels, as well as one college of education, is truly impressive and commendable.”

Many Ghanaians, regardless of religious affiliations, had benefited from that intervention in education, in line with the government’s vision to invest in education and make it freely accessible to all Ghanaians at the secondary level, Dr Bawumia said.

He commended the Ahmadiyya Community for its contributions to religious harmony, peace-building and promotion of good governance, in collaboration with notable Civil Society Organisations.

“Through our Free SHS, policy, which also reflects the tenets of your reawakening mission, secondary education, since 2017 has been freely available to every Ghanaian throughout the country,” the vice president said.

“This has resulted in a record enrollment; from a total of 800,000 students in 2016 to the current 1.4m students; a 75% increase in just seven years.”

“Thanks to the policy, we have also achieved gender balance in senior high school enrollment, a marked improvement on the hitherto, higher male enrollment, as many families who could not afford school fees chose the easy but sad option of truncating the education of their female wards.”