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The Ashanti Regional Communication Officer of the NDC, Mr. Abass Nurudeen has stated that during the consultative process that preceded the writing of the NDC's peoples' manifesto, the coalition of Muslim youth made a special request for Islamic-oriented Mortuaries to serve the peculiar needs of the Muslim community in Ghana.

The need for this request was necessitated by the unislamic manner in which Muslim dead bodies are subjected to in the regular Mortuaries.

He said, "in Islam when a person dies, he/she must be buried as soon as possible. But a laborious process that Muslim family go through before bodies of their dead relatives is released to them causes so much stress to the bereaved family and sometimes too the cost involved is quite exorbitant".

"So the fact that NDC has put this major concern in their manifesto means their manifesto is indeed a people's manifesto.

"We in the Zongo communities are most grateful and will show our gratitude by overwhelmingly vote for John Mahama in the 2020 Elections," Abass Nurudeen added.

Over the weekend, the John Mahama campaign team had cause to deflate attempts by some online media outlets, that sought to create the impression that the former president has "promised to construct more mortuaries for the Zongo communities.”

The Campaign Team described the claims as "mischievous, deliberately distorted and misleading".

A statement signed by campaign spokesman, James Agyenim Boateng said: the NDC's presidential candidate, while speaking during a live interview with TV XYZ and WoezorTV, only took the opportunity to highlight the party’s proposed interventions in the People’s Manifesto for Zongos and Deprived Urban Settlements.

"Reading from page 82 of the NDC’s 2020 manifesto, Mr Mahama mentioned a number of interventions aimed at addressing “the historical inequalities between Zongo, Deprived Urban Settlements and other communities, including the negative effects of the Alien Compliance Order implemented by the Danquah-Busia tradition on Zongos”.

"Acknowledging the concerns of Muslims about how traditional mortuaries handle their beloved ones when they pass on, Mr Mahama quoted the specific section of the People’s Manifesto which addresses the issue and aims at lessening the burden of bereaved Muslims by treating their deceased loved ones in line with accepted practices of the Islamic faith.

“So a lot of the Muslim communities have not been happy. And so we say ‘we will facilitate the establishment of mortuaries in accordance with Islamic custom and practices and collaborate with the Ministry of Health to set up focal teams responsible for procedures that are compliant with Islamic custom and practice at all public mortuaries’”, the statement quoted Mr Mahama as having said.

It therefore urged Muslims, in particular, and the general public to disregard the "offensive publication by treating it with the contempt it deserves" since it is only "calculated to whip up anti-Muslim sentiments against the NDC and the JOHN MAHAMA 2020 Campaign".