Accra, Sept. 10, GNA - The National Security Advisor, Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah has commended the Ghanaian Muslim community for establishing a National Zakat House to cater for the financial needs of the poor and vulnerable in society.

Brig. General Nunoo-Mensah said the initiative was not only a laudable one, but also indicates the level of unity and spirit of brotherhood and shared interest by the Muslim community that would enhance the already peaceful co-existence in the country.

The National Security Advisor said this at the official launch of the National Zakat House (Zakat Policy Document) and website in Accra on Saturday on behalf of President John Evans Atta Mills.

A 13-member Board of Trustees under the chairmanship of Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, former Managing Director of Graphic Communications Group Limited, is to mobilize resources and fashion out strategies to support activities such as reducing maternal mortality, women empowerment and poverty alleviation among the vulnerable in the Muslim communities.

The National Zakat House is an initiative between the three major Muslim sects of Alhusunna, Shia and Tijaniyya in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Coalition of Muslim Organisations (COMOG), the National Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs.

Zakat or obligatory charity is one of the Pillars of Islam that every Muslim is obliged to observe. It enjoins true adherents of the religion to comply accordingly.

The Zakat House would be a centralised point for the collection, management and disbursement of the Zakat, which is 2.5 per cent of one's income.

Brig. General Nunoo-Mensah said its establishment indicated that Islam is a religion that had the wellbeing of human beings at the centre of its social and economic philosophies and teachings.

Major Alhaji Mohammed Easah (Retired), National President of COMOG in a welcome address, said Zakat Fund had been set-up to assist Muslims in the country to pay their Zakat regularly as a matter of religious obligation. He added that it is a poverty-alleviating and wealth sharing body that is a unifying factor for the Muslim community.

He said the National Zakat House was a product of a national consensus reached by representatives of Muslims of all major sects from all the ten regions after a long period of dialogue, discussion, sharing and exchange of views and ideas.

Lepowura Alhaji Mohammed Nurideen Jawula, who chaired the programme, called for support from all sectors of the Muslims and advised against tendencies that would derail the good intentions of the Zakat Fund whilst suggesting that the idea of a charity be included in the policy document to give meaning to its goals.

Hajia Ramatu Boya Gariba, Deputy Minister of Women and Children's Affairs in a solidarity speech called for the establishment of guidelines to administer the Fund, saying it should be run on the principles of accountability, probity and transparency.