Tension is mounting between the Muslim community and indigenes of a town in the Ashanti Region over the siting of a mosque in the town. The natives are challenging the chief’s decision to allocate a parcel of land to Muslims when Christians are the majority. One of the protestors has, in defiance of the chief’s order, begun building a drinking bar on a portion of the land meant for the mosque. The mosque is said to be under construction. Nhyira FM’s Ohemeng Tawiah reports the traditional authorities charged the Muslims three times the original cost for that parcel of land. “Some Muslim youth have vowed to use all means to stop the construction of the drinking spot which they say is meant to slight Islam,” Ohemeng Tawiah said. Spokesperson Alhaji Faizzer Ibrahim said their persistent calls on the police and the traditional authorities to stop the construction of the bar have fallen on deaf ears. “You know an alcoholic drink in Islam is a taboo to us; we don’t like it, we don’t drink alcohol. When someone brings alcohol near a mosque we’ll feel…hurt because we don’t want to practice it,” he said. “Even where he has built the drinking bar, he has taken part of our land. We don’t want it to happen because when it happens it will be a disaster.” They threaten that if the authorities fail to act, they would “see what to do.” Play the attached audio for excerpts of the interview Source: Joy News/Ghana