Afia Ohemeng
The Muyad Social Services has released a statement written to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT). The statement included constitutional duties of the organization to respect and uphold the rights of Ghanaians.
Find the statement issued below:
PRESS RELEASE
MUYAD SOCIAL SERVICES PETITION SSNIT OVER CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHT ABUSE AGAINST SOME MUSLIM LADIES
The MUYAD Social Services (MSS), upon receiving complaints from some Muslims ladies posted to do their National Service with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) but were denied access to do their mandatory national service because they refused to remove their hijab (hair cover – an obligatory Islamic identity of Muslim ladies), have petitioned the Trust through the Director-General and the Board Chairman.
MUYAD Social Service (an Islamic NGO) is very disturbed with the deliberately flouting of the fundamental human and constitutional rights of Muslim ladies who wear their hijabs by both public and private institutions (educational institutions and workplaces) in the country.
MSS is disturbed with the high tendencies of some Ghanaians deliberately breaking Article 21(1)(c) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which allows every citizen to observe and manifest his or her religious belief and norms to the fullest everywhere in the country.
MSS is therefore demanding a positive response to the petition served SSNIT on Friday, September 13, 2019 at about 3:55pm and an outline of positive course of actions to remedy the damage and disregard of the rights of the Muslim ladies within the Trust sooner.
Unsatisfactory response or any course of actions will motivate the MSS to seek redress from the law court of Ghana.
MSS also take this opportunity to advise all institutions in Ghana both public and private to respect the constitutional rights of every citizen in the country, especially the religious belief and norms and permitted by the Supreme Laws of the land. No bye-laws, professional code of ethics, institutional rules or codes, service code is above the Constitution of Ghana.
The peace of the country is expensive than any individual’s or institution’s self-interest and deliberate disregard to the laws of the country.
Islam highly upholds peace and respect of laws of every country the reason why MUYAD Social Services has kept on encouraging Muslims to use lawful means to address their grievances and abuse of their rights.
Signed: Adnan Adams Mohammed, Executive Director, MUYAD Social Services
The Constitution allows every citizen the right to practice their chosen religion and belief systems. In recent times, Ghanaians have had hush conversations about their workplaces and religion.
In January, a young Muslim lady was posted to the Greater Accra Regional office of the Ghana Health Service but was denied a place since she refused to take off her hijab.
The lady, was supposed to have an attachment letter of hers endorsed at the Accra Office of the Ghana Health Service. However, she was denied the endorsement on the grounds of her refusal to remove her hijab.
Interestingly, her colleagues who eventually complied with the order received their endorsements.
The Health Ministry of Ghana indicated that there was no directive that female Muslim workers had to take off their hijab before they could be employed.
Another Muslim nurse was sacked for wearing a hijab in 2015. She was working at the Maamobi General Polyclinic was reportedly asked to go home for wearing her hijab to work.
The principal nurse at the hospital issued a directive to all female Muslim medical officers against wearing their hijab to work.This order was also against the Health Minister’s directive on the matter.
Constitution
Chapter 5 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, covers “Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms”. Section 12(2) states that “Every person in Ghana, whatever their race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed or gender shall be entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual contained in this Chapter but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest”. Section 17(2) also protects and ensures equality and freedom from discrimination on grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic, origin, religion, creed or social or economic status, and (3) amplifies this to cover place of origin and occupation
The Constitution sets clear grounds for the Ghanaian citizen in all aspects of life in regards to their rights and responsibilities. It is quite unfortunate that in the scenarios above, these taxpaying citizens had to be denied their rights especially when it did not affect anyone or deny any other person of their individual rights.
