Seeking to encourage Zakat payment among Muslims in Ghana and to promote financial management within the principles of Islamic finance, the Greater Accra Regional branch of Ghana Muslim Mission (GMM) has introduced a Zakat Fund. This is a move welcome by the country’s Islamic finance industry as it will serve to promote further the proposition of Shariah compliant finance. VINEETA TAN reports.
Nurudeen Quaye, GMM’s Imam for the Greater Accra region, shared that the primary objective of the fund is to sensitize qualified Muslims in fulfilling their Zakat obligation and subsequently assisting them to fulfil their religious duty. The fund will act as a platform for the collection, management and disbursement of funds to its beneficiaries and manage payments to yield optimal returns according to the tenets of Islam. The fund would also be used to execute developmental projects for the Muslim community in Ghana, as announced by Dr Sheikh Amen Bonsu, the national chairman of GMM.
With Muslims making up only 17.6% of Ghana’s population, the development of the industry (which has in the main been in the area of Islamic microfinance) in the sub-Saharan republic has been slow, but has nonetheless seen positive development in recent years. The new Zakat Fund expands the range of Zakat funds available in the country as it joins the existing Zakat and Sadaqa Trust Fund launched by Ghana’s Muslim Staff Association. Earlier in the year the central bank confirmed that it was reviewing the nation’s Banking Act to incorporate the concept and governance of Islamic banking and finance, paving way for the establishment of Shariah compliant banking practices in the country. It was also revealed that two Islamic banking license applications were pending before the central bank. More recently, ISFIN, the international network of Islamic finance lawyers, partnered with local firm Glory Law Firm as its exclusive representative for Ghana.