Officials in Ghana have ordered Muslim leaders and managers of Mosques to consider using the social media platform WhatsApp to call Muslims to prayers.
The order, according to local media is to reduce the level of noise generated by the Mosques during call to prayers in many communities across the country.
Ghana’s Environment, Science, Technology and Innovations Minister, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng told reporters in Ghana’s capital Accra on Tuesday that Muslim leaders must consider using text messages in inviting Muslims to prayer.
He said the use of the traditional megaphones is becoming worrying due to the level of noise pollution produced.
“In the house of worship, why is it that the noise will (not) be limited to the house of worship…and again maybe from the mosque, why is it that time for prayer would not be transmitted with a text message or WhatsApp” Boateng said.
The minister wondered why “the Imam will send WhatsApp message to everybody that the time for prayer is up so appear.”
In March this year the government of Rwanda placed a ban on mosques in the capital, Kigali, preventing them from using loudspeakers during the call to prayer, in an attempt to deal with noise making.
This ban followed the closure of over 700 churches accused of making noise and operating without proper building standards.
The places of worship for these churches were found to lack basic infrastructure, fell short of hygiene, safety standards and had issues related to their legal status.
Source: Africafeeds.com
