By: Binta Jaiteh
Former Information Minister, Demba Ali Jawo has issued out a strong warning to imams against making divisive remarks about religion and ethnicity from their pulpits.
Jawo’s remarks came in the wake of recent controversy involving Imam Abdul Kareem Kuyateh, who criticized the Mourid sect during his Friday sermon.
Jawo believes that while the Ministry of Religious Affairs is right to object to such a provocative statement but involving the police risks escalating the situation. “It raises the question as to whether the ministry’s role is merely advisory, or if it also has some powers to censure statements made in our mosques and churches,” he stated.
He emphasized the need for religious and government leaders to be cautious with their words in a multi-religious and secular society like The Gambia, where both religion and ethnicity are sensitive topics. “We expect the government to rein in those radical elements in the society, using their pulpits to sow seeds of discord,” he stressed.
Jawo notes that this is not the first time imams have openly criticized other denominations, citing past instances where figures like Imam Abdoulie Fatty used “provocative language” against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at and Christians without government intervention. He questioned whether the current response indicated a “double standard” or a “new positive phenomenon” in governance.
According to Jawo, religious leaders have a crucial role in maintaining peace by choosing sermon topics that unite rather than divide society. “There is no justification in the holy books to provoke others simply because their beliefs differ from ours,” he concluded.