The head and council of Elders of the family of the late Imam of Wa have turned down a GH¢20,000 funeral donation from Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
The family of the deceased said the money came in at a time when its intended purpose had already been served.
“We the elders of the family wish to state that, the donation though well-intentioned is belated as the final funeral rites have already been performed,” a statement from the council said.
The family also raised concerns over the failure of the Vice President to attend any of the funeral rites of the deceased, though he paid a visit to Wa in September.
“Besides, the Vice President never showed up in person to mourn with the family when he paid a visit to the region on September 7, 2020,” they said.
Dr Bawumia, after the death of Dr Suleman Mahama Haroon Bakuri, decided to make a GH¢20,000 donation to the family of the deceased to support the funeral rites.
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The donation, according to the Imam’s family, came through the governing New Patriotic Party’s Wa Central Constituency Chairman instead of the Vice President presenting the donation himself.
This, they said, was unethical.
The family also raised concerns over the failure of the Vice President to intervene when the Imam called on the presidency when he was prevented from performing his religious duties at the Central Mosque by the Upper West Region Minister, Hafiz Bin Salih.
“The Regional Minister used the powers vested in him by the Presidency to promote and support a rival faction,” however, the Presidency failed to intervene, the family claimed.
“The Imam lamented that the very party he is accused of being sympathetic to when he offered prayers for the leaders of the NPP and the nation during their visit to the region at the Central Mosque on Friday to fraternise with Muslims on the run up of the 2016 electioneering campaign is now the party that supports rival factions to dispose him.
“Isn’t it ironic that neither the President nor his vice found it worthy to attend any of his funeral celebrations nor visit the family to mourn with them even when they visited and toured the Region,” they added.
