Aspiring First National Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, has dismissed allegations of an agenda to Islamise Ghana, arguing that the voting patterns of Muslims in the 2024 general election demonstrate the country’s strong commitment to religious tolerance.
Speaking at the Danquah Institute’s 2026 Liberty Lecture on Tuesday, August 25, Mr Hamid said that if there were an agenda to turn Ghana into an Islamic state, the 2024 presidential candidacy of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia would have provided an opportunity for Muslims to rally behind him on religious grounds.
He added that the failure of Muslims to vote predominantly for Dr Bawumia, despite his being the first Muslim presidential candidate of a major political party, was evidence that religion did not determine their political choices.
His comments come amid public concerns over a possible Islamisation of Ghana, following discussions about the proposed introduction of Arabic as an optional language at the basic school level and the government’s interest in interest-free banking.
According to him, these developments had been used to intensify claims of an agenda to Islamise the country, but he insisted that Ghana’s political history did not support such assertions.
“So, Mr Chairman, I want to ask, is there an agenda to Islamise Ghana? For me, it does not seem, from the political choices of Muslims in Ghana, that there is an agenda to Islamise Ghana,” he said.
He added, “If such an agenda existed, Mr Chairman, the candidacy of Mahamudu Bawumia would have been the catalyst, and his candidature would have been the opportunity for Muslims to rally around such an agenda, but they didn’t.”