MUSLIMS IN GHANA TO BAN BEL-AQUA FOR BREAKING HALAL ETHICS ON PRODUCTION OF NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

  

Concern Muslims Organizations in Ghana has draw attention of the general public to the things individuals and communities consume in the market and the Ghanaian Beverage Industries that can endanger their health and safety, especially the Muslim community in the country.

The organization is calling on the FDA and the government as well as other regulators to investigate and provide their findings to the public as soon as possible, the Concern Muslim Organizations would have no option than to advise the entire Muslim community that the BEL-AQUA products are haram, harmful and we would entreat all Muslims not to associate themselves with their products.

BELOW: PRESS RELEASE: CONCERN MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS

CONSUMERS: BE AWARE OF WHAT YOU CONSUME, ALWAYS INSIST OF HALAL PRODUCTS FOR YOUR HEALTH BENEFITS

Good day fellow Ghanaian, Chiefs, Respected Clerics, our Imams and Opinion Leaders, Friends from the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I want to take this opportunity to welcome you all to this important but brief press release. We the Concern Muslims Organizations in Ghana invited you here today to draw your attention to the things individuals and communities consume in the market and the Ghanaian Beverage Industries that can endanger their health and safety, especially the Muslim community in the country.

Friends from the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, we use this medium to alert consumers and the regulatory authorities to be extremely vigilant and to carefully screen products that are being produced for consumption. We call on everyone to be wary of the development currently on going in the media space regarding a beverage company called BEL-AQUA COMPANY GHANA LIMITED, the producers of BEL products.

We the Concern Muslim Organizations have also gathered that BEL-AQUA COMPANY LIMITED is using the same line of production for the making of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for the market without paying attention to the religious requirements of their Muslim consumers and the halal standards, as well as using children under the age of 18 years of age for their advertisement and promotional campaigns.

Our revered clerics, Friends from the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, based on the Halal guidelines and standards, the Concern Muslim Organizations does not approve the halal status of products produced by the BEL-AQUA group. We strongly express our displeasure with this development. We call on the FDA and the government as well as other regulators to investigate and provide their findings to the public as soon as possible, if not the Concern Muslim Organizations would have no option than to advise the entire Muslim community that the BEL-AQUA products are haram, harmful and we would entreat all Muslims not to associate themselves with their products.

Our attention has also been drawn to the fact that, the same company, BEL-AQUA, is using children in their promotional campaigns to advertise alcoholic beverages, which is a serious offence and a violation of the rights of children, as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child.

Members of the Press, Ladies and Gentle, children have the right to grow up in a healthy environment, to be protected from being hurt, from receiving harmful information and from any exploitation.

Article28 of Ghana’s constitution reiterated that children and young people must, in all circumstances, receive special protection against exposure to physical and moral hazards.

This articles agrees that every Ghanaian child has the right to life and education, I want to state that ‘’it is worth nothing that these global and national provisions are all dependent on whether or not the child’s right to health must be at all times supersede all other interests.’’ Even in the Divine Book, the Holy Quran states in Chapter 5 Verse 90:

یَـٰۤأَیُّهَا ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوۤا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلۡخَمۡرُ وَٱلۡمَیۡسِرُ وَٱلۡأَنصَابُ وَٱلۡأَزۡلَـٰمُ رِجۡسࣱ مِّنۡ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّیۡطَـٰنِ فَٱجۡتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تُفۡلِحُونَ

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ إِنَّمَا ٱلۡخَمۡرُ وَٱلۡمَيۡسِرُ وَٱلۡأَنصَابُ وَٱلۡأَزۡلَٰمُ رِجۡسٞ مِّنۡ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِ فَٱجۡتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تُفۡلِحُونَ ٩٠

“O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allāh], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.  Al-Ma’idah, Ayah 90

Ladies and Gentle from the Press, the Concern Muslim Organizations is a civil society organization in Ghana with the mandate to serve as a mouthpiece and to champion public health, the general well-being of Ghanaian Muslims against business interest and threats.

In conclusion, we strongly use this medium to communicate to the FDA, the government and other relevant regulatory institutions to investigate and bring a finality to this serious religious issues in the spirit of promoting tolerance and interfaith harmony.