Officials from the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) embarked on a two visit to Bole in the Savannah Region to see and verify the state of the over 400 year Old Mosque and to engage the Community on steps to restore the collapsed minaret or tower of the Mosque.
Mr Bernard Agyiri Sackey Head of Monuments Division of the GMMB said following the viral reports of the collapse of the minaret of the Bole Sudanese Style Mosque they were tasked to come and do a follow up and see whether what was reported by the media is exactly what is on the ground.
He stated; “So we came for sight seeing and verification of what we heard in the news and the main objective of coimg is that after seeing, then we can engage the community and find ways and mean of addressing the challenge that they have observed and together with the community find means to address the challenge”.
He further said the GMMB and the Community need to “build our heritage for the future”.
According to Mr Agyiri what was in the media is not rightly what they saw and that the reports were outrageous but on the ground they reLidedit was not the entire Mosque but the minaret or tower that collapsed.
He said the discussion with the community centred on ways and means of addressing the the challenge of of the collapse of the minaret or tower.
The Head of Monuments Division of the GMMB Mr Bernard Agyiri Sackey also said they engaged the Chief Imam of Bole and his Elders on what support they can get from the community and the ideas that the Community and their office can put tother to salvage the situation.
He said the engagement with the community wqs successful because they supported rebuilding the collapsed minaret or tower and they were in favour for the conservation of the Mosque”.
Mr Agyiri said the way forward is to mobilise resources and from what they have seen and after engaging the Community, a report and then dind ways and means of mobilising the resources that is needed right from the communities view point and from the point of the GMMB on what can be done to conserve the heritage.
An Imam of the Bole Ancient Mosque Alhaji Abdallah Nuhu Kamagtey has said that their meeting with the officials of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board yesterday was successful.
He said the Community has mobilised to do some work before the the people from Accra will come.
He said the Mosque is the heritage of Bole people and that the people will do everything to protect it.
Alhaji Abdallah disclosed that they Community came together to work on a budget for the restoration of the Mosque which was handed over to the officials of the GMMB.
Meanwhile speaking to Nkilgi Fm’s mornimg show on the Bole Ancient mosque the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bole-Bamboi Constituency Alhaji Yussif Sulemana said he had a conversation with the Ministry of Tourism and the Ghana Tourism Authority last week’s ago and that subsequently, the two organisations met and directed the Executive Secretary of Ghana Museums and Monuments Board to visit the site and report for action.
He said; As I speak the officers arrived in Bole on 26th September, 2023 and had a series of meetings with the people in Nyimange community in Bole where the Mosque is located.
The Bole MP added that; “The Ministry is promising to do a complete renovation of the mosque and I as your representative, will continue to lobby the ministry to get this done”.
Alhaji Yussif Sulemana further said; “You will recall that last year, I summoned the Tourism Minister to Parliament to ask him a question about ancient mosques in my constituency and beyond”.
Source: nkilgifmonline.com
