Kumasi: Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, the Minister for Interior, has urged Muslims to make Maulid celebrations a rallying point for championing the socio-economic development agenda.

Aside from the spiritual significance of the celebration, he said the annual celebration offered a platform for the Muslim community to pool resources and embark on projects that would better their living standards.

“If our aims for gathering are to hear the teachings of Allah and the prophet without planning anything to solve our problems, then we need to rethink,” he said at the 58th Annual Ashanti Regional Maulid Celebration held on Saturday, December 20, 2025.

The minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Asawase Constituency, was representing President John Mahama at the Muslim event held under the leadership of Maulana Zaeem Sheikh Abdul Wadud Haruna Ciessey.

He observed that, contrary to the perceptions that Muslims are poor, the Muslim community, like any other religious group, can carry out infrastructure projects for the benefit of its members.

He called for peaceful coexistence, urged citizens to take advantage of the arms amnesty in place to give up their weapons and encouraged the youth to shun illicit drug consumption and peddling.

The minister pledged an amount of GHS 50,000 for the construction of a dormitory for the Tijaniyya Senior High School located in the Ashanti region.

The sacred gathering brought together eminent Islamic clerics, Zongo chiefs, and Muslim scholars, including Mohammadu Sanusi II, the Emir of Kano, and Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, the National Chief Imam of Ghana.