News Guide Africa

Tag: COMOG

  • COMOG advises Muslims to use the right way for Hajj pilgrimage 

     

    Read statement below:

    Official statement by the National Executive Council of COMOG on Hajj Organisation under the current Management.
    11th March, 2025

    The National Executive Council of Coalition of Muslim Organizations, Ghana (COMOG) wishes to address issues regarding recent developments in the Hajj Organisation under the current regime. As a representative body of Muslim organisations in Ghana, we wish to provide our observations on the progress made so far and offer our recommendations for improvement in subsequent engagements.

    We recall the unfortunate events of last year’s Hajj, where many Ghanaian pilgrims were confronted with unimaginable difficulties. It is obvious that the exorbitant costs of the Hajj package resulted in many individuals seeking alternative, unconventional and unauthorized means to travel to Saudi Arabia. This led to devastating consequences, including the loss of 17 lives, as reported by the National Security Council. Some other pilgrims went missing, hundreds have been bound from entering the Kingdom for number of years and many were unable to perform Hajj due to the challenges they encountered with the Saudi security. .

    As Leadership, we felt relieved when we learnt that the Hajj package has been reduced by $2,120. This significant decrease is a welcome development, and we commend the management of Hajj for their efforts in making the pilgrimage more convenient, accessible and affordable for Ghanaian Muslims. Information reaching us indicates that they succeeded in negotiating with the same service providers used by the previous management.

    In light of the reduced package, we urge all Ghanaians intending to perform Hajj to patronize the official Hajj management system in Ghana. This will ensure a safe and legitimate journey, avoiding the risks associated with using tourist visas or unauthorized means. We wish to emphasize that the official channels provided will ensure a secure and reliable means of traveling to Saudi Arabia. We therefore wish to encourage all pilgrims to take advantage of this opportunity.

    We also commend the Hajj Tasksforce Management body for proposing the construction of a new Hajj Village by a private company in Accra. This initiative has the potential of providing a comfortable and convenient accommodation options for Ghanaian pilgrims, and we support the efforts to enhance the overall Hajj experience.

    In addition, we also wish to commend the Foreign Affairs Ministry for introducing the expedited passport processing system for prospective Hajj Pilgrims

    While we appreciate the efforts made so far, we also urge the management to involve Muslim stakeholder organizations in decision-making process to ensure a more inclusive and effective management of Hajj operations.
    This will enable the management to tap into the expertise and experiences of various stakeholders, ultimately leading to better outcomes for Ghanaian pilgrims.

    We wish to call for an investigation into the previous Hajj management which largely compelled our pilgrims to use those unauthorized routes to Makka.

  • Excuse Islam from partisan politics – Muslims Group 

    Hajj Abdul Rahman Abdul Manan, COMOG President

     

    Adnan Adams Mohammed

     

    The Coalition of Muslim Organisations, Ghana(COMOG) has warned against politicisation of practice of Islam in Ghana by some religious leaders in the country. 

     

    In a statement released by the group, it says it has observed with dismay, the creeping politicisation of Islam, occasioned by statements from some Muslim leaders in the in the country. 

     

    It would be recalled that, soon after the NPP primaries of 4th November 2023, there has been a heightened level of religious politics between the two major political parties which found expression in some arguments and counter arguments from a section of Muslim Leaders, especially in the Ashanti region.

     

    “We hereby wish to state unequivocally our resentment against this phenomenon which opens up our religion for exploitation by irresponsible politicians”, the statement signed by Hajj Abdel-Manan Abdel-Rahman, COMOG President, noted.

     

    “We do acknowledge the inevitable natural tendency of individuals to affiliate with a  preferred political party. However, it is required by our constitution, religious tenets and morals for all Religious or Traditional leaders to abstain from political statements that portrays them as activiste of political parties.”

     

    Below is the full statement:

     

    20th November, 2023

     

    Press Statement

     

    ISLAM MUST BE PRACTICED DEVOID OF PARTISAN POLITICAL SENTIMENTS

     

    The Coalition of Muslim Organisations, Ghana(COMOG) has observed with dismay, the creeping politicisation of Islam, occasioned by statements from some Muslim leaders in the in the country. We hereby wish to state unequivocally our resentment against this phenomenon which opens up our religion for exploitation by irresponsible politicians.

     

    It would be recalled that, soon after the NPP primaries of 4th November 2023, there has been a heightened level of religious politics between the two major political parties which found expression in some arguments and counter arguments from a section of Muslim Leaders, especially in the Ashanti region.

     

    We do acknowledge the inevitable natural tendency of individuals to affiliate with a  preferred political party. However, it is required by our constitution, religious tenets and morals for all Religious or Traditional leaders to abstain from political statements that portrays them as activiste of political parties.

     

    By this statement, we wish to call on all Muslim leaders to eschew any form partisan political statement in order to mend the cracks and consolidate the unity in Islam. Thank you!

     

    Signed,

    Hajj Abdel-Manan Abdel-Rahman

    (COMOG President)

     

    Contact: Shamsudeen Shaibu

    (Media Committee Chairman)

    0244843696

     

  • Muslims Group in Ghana caution ECOWAS on military intervention in Niger

    COMOG
    COMOG means – Coalition of Muslim Organisations Ghana

     

     

     

    Adnan Adams Mohammed

     

    One of the most recognized and authoritative Muslims grouping in Ghana, Coalition of Muslim Organisations, Ghana (COMOG) has waded into the Niger governance crisis and ECOWAS proposed solution.

     

    The Muslims group has said it is aware that, in a follow up reaction, ECOWAS Leaders are contemplating to explore a military intervention to restore constitutional regime in the country.

     

    However, in their view as Muslims, the mode of intervention chosen by ECOWAS is a misplaced option, as it would have more catastrophic consequences in the sub-region than anticipated.

     

    The Group believes that, using religious leadership intervention to negotiate for the restoration of democracy in Niger remains the best option.

     

    “We are aware that, Nigerian Muslim Clerics are exploring that window and it will not be out of place for ECOWAS to consider same”, COMOG in press statement issued last week Friday stated.

     

    “It is our hope that, the government of Ghana will also heed to this suggestion.”

     

     

    Below is the full statement:

     

    COMOG DECRIES THE USE OF MILITARY INTERVENTION BY ECOWAS TO RESOLVE THE NIGERIEN CRISIS

     

    The Coalition of Muslim Organisations, Ghana(COMOG) has taken cognisance of the unrest in Niger as a result of a Coup d’etat. We are also aware that, in a follow up reaction, ECOWAS Leaders are contemplating to explore a military intervention to restore constitutional regime in the country.

     

    In our view as Muslims, the mode of intervention chosen by ECOWAS is a misplaced option, as it would have more catastrophic consequences in the sub-region than anticipated.

     

    We further believe that, using religious leadership intervention to negotiate for the restoration of democracy in Niger remains the best option. We are aware that, Nigerian Muslim Clerics are exploring that window and it will not be out of place for ECOWAS to consider same. It is our hope that, the government of Ghana will also heed to this suggestion.

     

    It is obvious how religion has played a role in resolving issues of conflict of national proportion in Africa. To corroborate our position, it is important to appreciate how His Royal Eminence, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the former Emir of Kano who is also a Muslim cleric of international repute was allowed a smooth passage into Niger in a bid to persuade the junta to back down on their perceived extreme position.

     

    As Ghanaians, we are further concerned about the budget that is likely to burden the nation if troops are committed to this exercise, especially at a time when our economic indices are not in the best of shapes.

     

    Furthermore, the levels of unemployment among the youth with it’s security implocations must be of concern to the government at this material time This is because, a military intervention can easily create accessibility to sophisticated weapons by the youth in the sub-region.

     

    Finally, we wish to reiterate our view on the need for a better option in resolving the impasse in Niger other than a military intervention. Thank you.

     

    ……..Signed…….

    Hajj Abdel Manan Abdel Rahman

    COMOG President

    Contact: 0244470505

     

  • COMOG consoles people of Turkey and Syria

    COMOG consoles people of Turkey and Syria

     

    COMOG LOGO

    By Sirina Yussif

     

    The Coliation of Muslim Organization Ghana (COMOG), on behalf of the entire Muslim Community in Ghana, wish to extend its deepest condolences to the people of Turkey and Syria having suffered the devastating earthquake days ago.

     

    In this difficult times, COMOG stand hand in hand with them on behalf of the Ghana Muslim Community, to pray for speedy recovery for those who were injured.

     

    “…we further seek Allah’s forgiveness, on those Muslims who have died through this calamity and, ultimately His grant of Jannatul Firdaus”, COMOG prayed in a press statement issued yesterday.

     

    Additionally, COMOG called on the general public to donate to the relieve center openned at the  Kanda national mosque, Accra.

     

     

    Read below full statement:

     

    9th February, 2023

     

    HER EXCELLENCY THE AMBASSADOR,

    THE EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY,

    ACCRA.

     

    Your Excellency,

     

    HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES TO THE PEOPLE OF TURKEY AS THEY STRUGGLE TO RECOVER FROM THE EARTHQUAKE IN THE COUNTRY

     

    The Coalition of Muslim Organizations, Ghana(COMOG) has taken cognisance of the degree of devastation in which the recent Earthquake has left the people of Turkey and Syria.

     

    We, on behalf of the entire Muslim Community in Ghana wish to extend our deepest condolences to the people of Turkey in this state of sorrow and utter melancholy. We further wish to assure our brothers and sisters of our resolve to stand hand in hand with them in this trying times.

     

    Even as we believe in destiny(Qadr) as Muslims, it is our prayer that Allah will lead in the restoration of the lives and the economy of the people of Turkey and Syria.

     

    Our fervent prayers for a speedy recovery go to the injured, as we further seek Allah’s forgiveness, on those Muslims who have died through this calamity and, ultimately His grant of Jannatul Firdaus.

     

    We finally call on the general public to donate to the Relief Centre opened by the Turkish Embassy at the Kanda Mosque for the rehabilitation project of the People of Turkey.

     

    COMOG stands in solidarity with the people of Turkey in this difficult times! Thank you

     

    Signed.

    HAJJ ABDEL-MANAN ABDEL RAHMAN

    (National President-COMOG)

     

  • National Muslims Conference and Matters Arising…. What is Behind the Agenda?

    National Muslims Conference and Matters Arising…. What is Behind the Agenda?

    An Episode from Adnan Adams Mohammed

    We one day woke up to a bell of a new Muslim so-called “mouthpiece” birthed in a grand style with much assurance of a new Ghana for Muslims.

    A year is gone yet, the new era for Muslims right in Ghana has no new voice in stories, except the old chapping voices, which have been championing the national interest of Muslims.

    Much questions are begging for clarification and answers in the “New Era of a New Mouthpiece and Voice for Muslims”:

    1. Are we for unity for the interest of Muslims in Ghana? Or, we are for an agenda to champion a political and or tribal interest?
    • I thought the some of the promoters of the “Mouthpiece and Voice for Muslims in Ghana” know COMOG; in fact, I want to believe that some of them were part of the journey that started and arrived at the destination of the creation of COMOG! Is it that COMOG does not represent the unity of Muslims in Ghana, so much so that Muslims in Ghana stand in need of another group of Muslims to come out with a UNITY PLATFORM for Muslims?
    • What happened to the Wesley Girls’ SHS “No Prayer, No Fasting, No Islam on Campus” brouhaha? We all laid low because all Muslims were told to stay off and wait for the intervention of our honorable Muslim Caucus in Parliament. A year is gone past, but nothing has been heard of from the Parliamentary committee meetings that we were told were taking place; if there was any meeting at all!
    • Our own school, Islamic SHS in Kumasi had some of their students brutalized, tear-gased and humiliated when all they demanded for was action to be taken on the highway in front of their school to stop the loss of precious young lives of students as passing vehicles impatiently knock and run over them rampantly. This became a national issue and the discussions raged on. Yet, the “burgeoning New Mouthpiece and Voice” for Muslims was not heard. The quiet silence beggars belief! Our very Muslim MPs who are supposed to be our defenders when it comes to Fundamental Human Rights as enshrined in our 1992 Constitution chicken out and left us all looking on sheepishly like orphans with no one to look to for a justice society that respects proper human diversity.
    • The “Mouthpiece and Voice of the new era Muslims” have been missing on the LGTBQ+ advocacy. Are the “Mouthpiece and Voice of the new era Muslims” afraid to be heard on this serious national issue which Islam vehemently prohibits?
    • Can the affairs of Muslims in Ghana be run like a political party? Whose interest are we seeking and serving? That of Muslims and Islam, or that of some politicians?
    • We were assured of financial stability and support for Islamic activities and projects! One year is gone! What is the story?
    • Are we as Muslims allowing ourselves (parochial and tribal interest) to be continuously humiliated as if we are foreigners in Ghana?

    What is going wrong?

    Who else has sharper eyes, wider ears and longer nose to see clearer, hear and smell the unpleasant future drawing nigh on Muslims in Ghana!!!

    Had I known, is always at last!!!

    Must we always seat, wait for the unpleasant things to happen before we start wailing, lamenting, complaining and blame-gaming?

    Proactiveness and tactfulness can win Muslims a lot of the continuous humiliating battles in Ghana.

    Thank you.

    A Patriotic and Activist Muslim

    Adnan Adams Mohammed (+233 24 465 3664)

  • Be transparent with any Instrument that bothers on Muslims – Elements in government cautioned

    Be transparent with any Instrument that bothers on Muslims – Elements in government cautioned

    Adnan Adams Mohammed

    The National Muslim Stakeholder Consultative Forum held in Accra, last week, cautioned all elements in government who are prompting to promote any kind of Executive or Legislative Instruments bothering Muslims to be transparent and cautious.

    In the communiqué issued at the end of the forum organised by the Coalition of Muslim

    Organizations, Ghana (COMOG) in association with the Conference of Regional Chief Imams of Ghana

    which was held under the auspices of His Eminence the National Chief Imam, the forum highlighted five key points that needs urgent attention of the Muslims in the country and the government.

    The forum was attended by over 15 Stakeholder Organizations and Institutions (SOIs) known among the Muslim leadership.

    “The promoters of a proposed Executive Instrument (EI) or Legislative Instrument (LI) for Muslims in Ghana must be transparent and share their proposals for approval by the Muslim Stakeholder Organizations and Institutions (MSOIs) before presenting same to the President or Parliament, respectively, for possible consideration of enactment into a law”, the Communiqué as signed by Hajj Abdel-Manan Abdel-Rahman, COMOG President/Forum Coordinator for the Forum Chairman, Nana Alhaj Yussif Fanyanamah, Chief of Kintampo and Acting President of National Council of Zongo Chiefs.  

    It was also discussed at the Forum that, unity among all the Muslim denominations and groups were key for national peace and cohesion building.

    Attached is the full Communiqué:

  • COMOG and partners distribute meat to needy Muslims for Eid-Ul-Adha celebration

    COMOG and partners distribute meat to needy Muslims for Eid-Ul-Adha celebration

    The Coalition of Muslim Organisation in Ghana (COMOG), local partner of International Islamic Youth League and African Youth Development (IIYLAYD), an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), based in the United Kingdom, under its 2022 Qurbani project, has supported the vulnerable in Ghana with meat.

    In all, about two hundred and forty (240) cattle has been slaughtered and the beef distributed to needy Muslims across the country, during Eid-ul-Adha, festival of sacrifice feast.

    The Chief Executive Officer of the IIYLAYD, Prof. Hamid Ahmed Kanneh, when speaking at the sharing of meat at Accra Kanda said, the project was meant to put smiles on the faces of the needy during the Eid-ul-Adha festival.

    Prof. Kanneh appealed to Muslim youth to guard against being lured into terrorism, reminding them that terrorism was not part of the Jihad.

    He said the organisation was in the process of rolling out programmes to support youth development, to prevent them from going wayward.

    The president of COMOG, Hajj Abdel Manan Abdel-Rahman, observed that the gestures by the NGO would make an impact on both Muslim and non Muslim.

  • Maiden National Muslims Leadership Consultative Forum Takes off On Sunday, July 3

    Maiden National Muslims Leadership Consultative Forum Takes off On Sunday, July 3

    Press Statement

    30th June 2022

     National Muslims Leadership Consultative Forum

    The Coalition of Muslims Organizations, Ghana (COMOG) and its collaborators; National Council of Zongo Chiefs, Conference of Regional Chief Imams, Tijaniya Muslim Community, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a and Shia Muslim Community are organizing a National Muslim Leadership Consultative Forum scheduled for Sunday July 3rd, under the theme *”Islamic values and Identity in Ghana:  Challenges and Strategies”.*

    The Forum, organized under the auspices of the His Eminence the National Chief Imam, will take place at the Cantonment Police Mosque Conference Hall. It is planned to start at 8.30am and ends at 4pm without press coverage.

    Some of the main objectives of the forum are as follows: To review and reinvigorate inter-faith dialogue which will promote peaceful coexistence in Ghana; To examine issues surrounding the relocation of the Accra Central Mosque to Kanda, in order to bring the debate to a closure; and To develop guidelines that would serve as a blue print that will guide and ensure that, all actions and omissions of public, quasi public, private institutions that threaten the person secular status of the country.

    Thank you.

     Signed

    Bro Shaibu M. Shamsu

    Chairman, Media, Research and PR Committee.

  • COMOG accepts apology of Dr Opoku-Mensah

    COMOG accepts apology of Dr Opoku-Mensah

    The Coalition of Muslim Organisations Ghana has written to Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah to officially acknowledge his apology and subsequent acceptance of such.

    This was contained in a press release signed by the President, Hajj Abdul Rahman Abdul Manan.

    Attached is the full statement

  • National Cathedral: Muslims Call on CEO To Correct Misinformation About National Mosque Construction

    National Cathedral: Muslims Call on CEO To Correct Misinformation About National Mosque Construction

    Read Full Statement Below:

    RE: THE STATE CONTRIBUTED TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIONAL MOSQUE-NATIONAL CATHEDRAL CEO

    Our attention has been drawn to a statement as headlined above, made by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Cathedral, Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah suggesting that the Government of Ghana spent state resources in the construction of the National Mosque, located at Kanda in Accra.

    HE made this spurious statement on the GTV Talking Point program aired in the evening of Sunday the 12th June 2022.

    We, the Coalition of Muslim Organizations, Ghana (COMOG), on behalf of all Muslim organizations in Ghana wish to state unequivocally, and without any fear or favor that, not a single pesewa from the state by any political regime was contributed to the construction of the Kanda National Mosque.

    The CEO of the National Cathedral made this statement in an attempt to justify the sum of over GHc25 million of state resources as seed money for the construction of the most controversial project in Ghana today, the National Cathedral.

    As a Muslim organization with the mandate to protect the image and sanctity of Islam and the reputation of the Ummah in Ghana, we can’t tolerate such a deliberate falsehood by a high-profile appointee of Dr. Opoku-Mensah’s stature when indeed, the facts do not support his claim. Contrary to his statement, we Muslims have rather been shortchanged in the matter of our Accra Central Mosque which was pulled down by the state, only for Government to compensate us with a bare land for that loss. Our magnanimity towards the state and our commitment to peaceful coexistence must not be misconstrued by some people to be a weakness.

    We therefore, by this statement wish to call on Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah to come out and retract that deliberate falsehood and apologize to the entire Muslim Ummah in Ghana. We also demand that, this rejoinder be read in the next edition of GTV Talking Point program, to correct the falsehood.

    ……………………

    Hajj Abdel-Manan Abdel-Rahman

    (COMOG President)

     0244470505