Religious Freedom: ECOWAS Parliamentarian urge members to emulate Cabo Verde

A Member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament Honorable Shiaka Musa Sama from Sierra Leone Delegation has tasked countries in West Africa to emulate the example of Cabo Verde in practicing religious tolerance.

Hon. Sama said as it is in Cabo Verde, it is a criminal offence
to attack a place and people of faith; such should be applied across the West African sub region.

He made this call during an interview with the Parliamentary Update Group (PUG) following the close of Fifth Legislature’s delocalised meeting of the Joint Committees on Education, Science and Culture/Health and Communication and Information Technology held in Praia, Cabo Verde.

The meeting which commenced from the 14th to the 18th September, 2022 with the theme:
“Religious Tolerance and Harmony: Essential Factors for Development, Peace and Stability in the ECOWAS Region.”

Hon. Sama said that having the right legal climate will go a long way in deterring religious intolerance.

“It is important to have laws that deter people from being religiously intolerant because during the meeting we all agreed that for the sub region to have sustainable development we must promote religious tolerance. We cannot all belong to the same religion; it is natural that we have to belong to different religions, sometimes for ulterior motives we have got people preaching religious intolerance for their own selfish interest. We have seen in places like Nigeria and other parts of the region where people have lost their lives, where one group of people are being set against another set based on religion.

“We have seen how people have suffered because of violence that
emanated from religious intolerance. I think some people cannot change willingly, we must ensure that we have provisions in our laws that would discourage religious intolerance.

“For example, in Cabo Verde, we are told by one of their officials that they have got provisions in their laws that guarantees freedom of worship and that also prescribes
penalties for people who try to prevent others from exercising their religious faiths. We are told that people can be imprisoned for up to
eighteen months for violations that have to do with religious intolerance. I feel that we should take the next step by ensuring
that we review our laws to make sure that we include provisions that will discourage religious intolerance,” he said.

He emphasized that there should be punitive measures against persons that are religiously intolerant adding that, “we have to respect the rights of others to hold opinions and practice their religion.
Religion should be a personal thing and a personal relationship
between one their Maker.”

Hon. Sama noted that people must have a right to hold and keep their
personal religious beliefs but in so doing, also recognized the
rights of others to practice their religious belief, adding that,
this can also be achieved by inter-religious dialogues by way of exchanging ideas through means of evangelism to persons of other religion but however cautioned that, “we have to avoid public utterances that will encourage religious intolerance that will portray one religion as bad over the other because of the religion that they practice.”

Again, the Parliamentarian stated that: “Of course , we have to be careful about the things
we say publicly in churches and mosques because when one is
preaching to their followers they have more freedom on what to say and what not to say because you are all of the same faith.”

He recalled how in his native Sierra Leone, how a certain preacher almost ignited a religious feud because of the public utterances of a certain Nigerian Pastor Victor Ajesafe who said it is either you are a Christian or a pagan and there is nothing like Islam or other religions.

“I think religious speeches must be regulated by the state, for
example when you make derogatory remarks against another religious group publicly that will not augur well for those who are affected.

“I think people should be careful of what they say because all of the
religious books preach tolerance. All the religious divine books
preach how one should treat their neighbors as themselves, they talk
about extending kindness to people within and outside of one’s own
faith,” He said.

He encouraged state and non-state actors to increase on the level of
awareness on religious tolerance noting that there are a lot of
misinterpretation of religious texts with some Muslims and
Christians having a wrong interpretation of the scriptures, adding that, “I think what we need is a lot of education and understanding that if you want to be a good Muslim or Christian, what matters most is character, you have to following the teachings of your book all of which are mainly meant to make you a better person, to make you peacefully coexist with others in your community, it is not meant to create war or increase hostilities among people but meant for people to live at peace within their communities and worship their creator.”

He further pointed that the Community Parliament and other
National Assemblies do have a role to play in creating the conducive
legal climate to deter religious intolerance, adding that, “I think
this idea of religious tolerance should be discussed at the Heads
of State level.”

‘’As an ECOWAS Parliament we have MPs from different Parliaments , we have to take the message home to our Parliaments and ensure that we
put some of these provisions that will encourage religious tolerance
into our law books and also design programmes in the Parliament that
ensure that Members go out as Committees and delegations with
programmes tailored towards taking ECOWAS to the people and engage communities in our home countries .

“We have to ensure that we preach
this message of religious tolerance far and wide by using the mass
media, religious bodies, etc. As was contained in our recommendations,
we have to organize training and workshops and meetings with
religious leaders , traditional leaders and other groups of people to ensure that they have a clear understanding of the way forward as a region in the direction of our vision for religious tolerance.”