Bawumia Presidency Will Not Turn Ghana Into Islamic State — Mustapha Abdul-Hamid
Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid has rejected claims that a Mahamudu Bawumia presidency would turn Ghana into an Islamic state, saying such fears are false and designed to exploit religious differences.
Felicia Afunyabea
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Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid has dismissed claims that a presidency led by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia would turn Ghana into an Islamic state, describing such suggestions as false and an insult to the country’s Constitution, history and the good sense of Ghanaians.
Speaking at the 2026 Danquah Institute Liberty Lecture at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, Dr Abdul-Hamid said attempts to portray Dr Bawumia’s Muslim faith as a threat to Ghana’s constitutional order amounted to the deliberate manufacture of fear.
“There will undoubtedly be people willing to spend money and manufacture fear by claiming that a Bawumia presidency would turn Ghana into an Islamic state,” he said.
“That suggestion is not merely false. It is an insult to our Constitution, our history, and the good sense of Ghanaians.”
From religious identity to shared humanity
Dr Abdul-Hamid argued that the debate over Dr Bawumia’s faith overlooks the importance of seeing people beyond their religious identities.
He recalled conversations with former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo about his decision to select and subsequently retain Dr Bawumia as his running mate.
According to Dr Abdul-Hamid, religious identity was initially part of the consideration when Akufo-Addo selected Dr Bawumia in 2008.
“While being Muslim was a consideration for his choice originally in 2008,” he said.
However, he said the former president’s explanation had evolved by 2016, when he asked why Dr Bawumia was being selected for a third consecutive time as running mate.
Dr Abdul-Hamid said Akufo-Addo told him he was retaining Dr Bawumia because he was “a good human being.”
He said the change in emphasis demonstrated what can happen when people move beyond religious boundaries and engage with one another as human beings.
“So what it means therefore is that if you interact, if you allow yourself to cross the boundaries of people's faith, you will find the humanity in people,” he said.
“And the common humanity that brings all of us.”
Akufo-Addo's confidence in Bawumia
Dr Abdul-Hamid also recounted what he said was another conversation with Akufo-Addo in which the former president explained why he had chosen Dr Bawumia again.
He quoted Akufo-Addo as saying: “I am choosing Mahamudu Bawumia again because I trust him. He is honest, hardworking, loyal and always searching for solutions to the fundamental problems of our economy.”
According to Dr Abdul-Hamid, Akufo-Addo further expressed confidence in Dr Bawumia’s ability to serve as vice president and, if circumstances required, to assume the presidency.
“He will be an excellent vice president and should circumstances require him to assume the presidency, I know Ghana will be safe in his hands,” he quoted the former president as saying.
He added that Akufo-Addo had also praised Dr Bawumia’s modern ideas, refreshing outlook and instinct for solving problems.
“I believe he has the qualities to become one of the finest presidents Ghana would have,” Dr Abdul-Hamid quoted the former president as saying.
For Dr Abdul-Hamid, those remarks underscore the distinction between judging a political leader on his character and competence and reducing his identity to his religious background.
He maintained that attempts to use Dr Bawumia’s Muslim faith to create fear about the future of Ghana are misplaced, insisting that the country’s constitutional framework and history provide no basis for such claims.