By Ilyasa Baa
There is an argument between Muslims and Christians in Deep Eye Water in the Western Rural District over the construction of a proposed Church very close to the Nimba used by Muslims to perform Eid prayers commonly known as pray day.
The foundation of the proposed Church is believed to have encroached on the Loko Town field where the portion for the Imam called in Arabic Nimba, has been located for years.
Recently, Muslims in the community could not believe their eyes when they discovered that the ongoing construction project is to build a Church. There was a bitter argument on the intervention of a few stakeholders recently trying to stop the work for the matter to be looked into.
Last Friday, the Juma sermon at Masjid Al-Hamd on Loko Town Road highlighted the issue. The Imam said the matter should be resolved immediately so that it does not lead to violence in the future.
The foundation tension led to the intervention of the police who are currently investigating the matter to ascertain whether the church’s foundation encroaches on the community prayer field.
According to Imam Sheikh Ismail Kabia, a stakeholder in the village who has served on the Development Committee of Deep Eye Water, the contention is not on the construction of a Church but the encroachment.
He said considering the religious tolerance the country enjoys, the construction of a Church near a Mosque is not an issue but should be done without encroachment.
He added that the foundation should not have been constructed without due consultation which, he noted, should have prevented all these confrontations.
A community member, who is a trader and a Muslim by religion, expressed openly that the woman has the right to build whatever she wants just like she did when she constructed a club opposite the prayer ground.
It could be recalled that the former Member of Parliament, Hon Pateh Bah, the Headman, Ibrahim Sesay together with other stakeholders were nearly mobbed when information leaked that they were trying to sell the field which initially was eleven aside but drastically reduced due to illegal sales.
The issue went as far as Parliament where youths were arrested and the entire area locked down. The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who was Hon. Chernor Maju Bah then castigated his colleague for conspiring with others to sell community land.