“We are not here to champion any religion or to downplay any” – PAC speaks on viral Quran incident

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Headmistress of Islamic Girls’ causes stir at PAC hearing, sparking debate

Davis Ansah Opoku, the Deputy Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has spoken about the viral Quran incident during the sitting last week.

The MP called for simple adjustments in the handling of religious texts used during oath-taking.

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According to the Deputy PAC, clearly separating the Bible and the Quran into different boxes could help address concerns raised about respect for religious practices.

Speaking up for the first time after the incident, Davis Ansah Opoku stated, “We have to because it’s a concern, and sometimes we all learn. The public accounts committee is not there to champion any religion or to downplay any religion, and so if she feels that we do not need to mix the Quran with the Bible, then we have to find ways of correcting it”.

“I mean, all it takes is to have two boxes, put the Bible here and put the Quran here,” he noted.

“They are all instruments of oath. We are not there to read the Quran. We are not there to read the Bible. We are there to take the oath but the lady has now exposed us to something that is of worry to her faith,” he stated.

“The next time we sit, we are going to see that. But we also have to find out from other religious people to see if indeed it’s against the faith,” he said.

“This is a non-issue. I feel that if the lady feels that we ought to separate it, all we need is two boxes,” he added.

His comments follows, the Headmistress of Islamic Girls’ Senior High School, Suhum, Mrs Safia Salifu, has caused a stir at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) when she pleaded for the Quran to be placed in a separate box.

According to her, Muslims do not put anything in the Quran, but it has been mixed with other books or documents and handled only by a Muslim during committee hearings.

Speaking at the PAC hearing, Mrs Safia Salifu stated, “I have a plea, honourable chair. Please can you put Honourable Miss Bao in charge of our Quran because we don’t put anything on the Quran, and it is being mixed up with some other documents. Thank you”.

“No, we have to get a separate box to keep the Quran in … and probably get a Muslim to serve it to me because we perform ablution before touching it. I see that it has been mixed with some other documents. Thank you,” Salifu firmly stated.

However,  the Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, Hon. Abena Osei-Asare, responding to a request, rejected her request.

Abena Osei-Asare stressed equal treatment for all religious texts used in the committee’s proceedings,

She described both the Bible and the Quran simply as tools for the work at hand.

“We place all the Bibles and Qurans on the table. When you come… You pick one. They are treated as instruments of work and used as such,” she said.

Some Ghanaians reacting to the viral video stated, “ What kind of absurd demand is this?

“They should get a Muslim to handle ur quran because a non-Muslim is too dirty to touch it”!!!

That nonsense book, whose toilet paper is even better than?

Ahhh, mmom paaa Ghana, like play like play, Boko Haram go land for Ghana ooh, wake up”.

One X user added, “Is she implying that the Islamic scholars who place the Bible, which they call injeel and other manuscripts together for references and comparison have committed something unholy? And why couldn’t she say remove the Bible, but called it other documents?”.

A netizen added, “Ghanaians, don’t ever make a Muslim president in this country. You wouldn’t like it. Listen to this woman who does not much political power fighting for her religion in an account committee. This is who they are. For them, their religion first. I have been warning you, people”.

Additionally, a netizen added, “My sis schooled at Suhum Islamic Girls, and she’s been forced to go to the mosque, consistently forced to cover her head.

Even tho dad is a pastor, we never complained. These kinds of attitudes of the so-called dirty Islamic of bloody! I hate it when I see them. Regarding others’ dirty”.

“Interesting

Maybe if our leaders practice their piety in the service of the country and stop stealing from us, such things may be tolerated.

Let us see the values and virtues of whatever you believe in, and people would accord some courtesy”, a netizen added.

One last X user stated, “I’m glad the chairperson put her in her place. We all know the kind of stupid demands they’d be making if they had a majority in Ghana. Always looking for division. Ghana is peaceful because Christians are more. That book came 600 years after the Bible from an unverified random guy”.

“Then they’ll turn around and ask Wesley Girls to allow all sorts of things. Ghanaians will understand soon enough. The Bible is “other documents,” a netizen added.

Watch the video below:

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