Former President John Dramani Mahama has taken a swipe at Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for mocking his proposal to establish special mortuaries in Zongo communities to handle mortal remains of Muslims who die.

Speaking at a National Democratic Congress (NDC) Stakeholders Forum, Mahama, who is the presidential candidate of the NDC, indicated that this proposal which was meant to ensure that Muslims' ritual of handling their dead relation is respected was mocked at the Dr Bawumia and other elements in the NPP.

He added that the people who criticised his proposal prior to the 2020 elections, including the vice president, are today yearning for credit for commissioning these mortuaries.

“I just want to point out some of the hypocrisy of our brothers. In our manifesto, I mentioned that we're going to provide special places because of the principles of Islam, that when a person has died, he must be bathed in a certain way and he must be buried as quickly as possible.

“We said we were going to provide special places so that Muslims can perform the rituals that are necessary and hurriedly go and do the burial. They started laughing at us and said, ‘all we can provide the Zongo communities is mortuaries – Zongo mortuaries," he said.

The former president added, “Recently I saw the vice president attending a function to commission a mortuary for Muslims. The same people who were laughing, today, are seeking credit for opening a mortuary that will handle Muslim bodies. This shows the kind of hypocrisy that our brothers have”.



What Dr Bawumia said about Mahama’s promise to build mortuaries in Zongo communities:

The vice president, in an interview on Asempa FM in 2020, said he was shocked to hear the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had promised to build a mortuary in Zongo communities.

He explained that the number one priority of people living in Muslim communities is education thus wondered who gave John Mahama that idea.

“Mortuaries are not the most important priority in Zongos; they need knowledge and education,” he said.

Watch Mahama's remarks in the video below:



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