NPC, IDEG, chiefs to commit political leaders to peace tomorrow
The National Peace Council (NPC) would tomorrow hold a dialogue with the leadership of all political leaders and chiefs, dubbed the second High Level Meeting (HLM), to chart the way forward towards a peaceful election.
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The Chairman of the NPC, the Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante, who made the announcement at a press conference in Accra yesterday, said the HLM would be organised in collaboration with the National House of Chiefs and the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG).
The meeting is on the theme: “Strengthening Ghana’s democratic stability, peace and unity”.
The Most Rev. Asante said the HLM, a follow-up to the Kumasi HLM of November 2012, would launch the process to constitute a collective national leadership and mobilise broad-based public support to promote clean elections and zero tolerance for rigged elections.
It was also intended to promote the adoption of a road map to sustain post-election political dialogue and consensus on strategic reforms vital to strengthening Ghana’s democratic stability, peace and unity and also engage the political parties and their presidential candidates on the re-affirmation of their commitment to the Kumasi Peace Pact, he said.
The NPC Chairman said the crucial and immediate post-election moments occurred within the interval between the declaration and finality of the presidential election result in particular and the inauguration of the elected President, when dialogue broke down.
“Experiences from the 2008 and 2012 elections show that communication, consultation and dialogue across institutions, political parties and the public tend to break down in those sensitive moments, creating a dangerous vacuum in a highly polarised, partisan and charged atmosphere.
“That insight informs the need for a collective national leadership which is skilled in statecraft to work together with the NPC in facilitating and coordinating critical communication, consultation and dialogue, essential to maintaining peace, stability and the pursuance of justice and fairness in the post-election period,” he explained.
Call for circumspection
Answering questions from journalists, the NPC indicated its inability to restrain pastors from making predictions on the outcome of the December 7 election, in spite of concerns expressed by security agencies that such predictions could disturb the peace. Voicing the helplessness of the NPC, in reining in pastors who are making predictions on the outcome of the elections, the Most Rev. Prof. Asante said: “The NPC has no control over churches. Pastors can speak their minds, but they too must be circumspect”.
The NPC, which is itself composed of members of the clergy and Muslim cleric, further called on political parties and other stakeholders to ensure circumspection in their utterances on the elections to avoid inflaming passions.
The Most Rev. Prof. Asante, who made the call on behalf of the council, said: “We are only asking all Ghanaians to be circumspect in all things. We don’t have the power to gag anybody; we just ask that everybody becomes circumspect”.
He was responding to questions from journalists at a press conference in Accra yesterday.
Commenting on assertions by some political parties that the NPC did not comment on issues when they affected the smaller parties and was selective in its choice of issues to comment on, the NPC Chairman said the council always investigated issues thoroughly before commenting on them and was not in a position to comment on every issue.
“We plead with all the parties that the NPC is not against any party,” he said, explaining that the council’s peace work was in two dimensions — overt and covert.
NDC/NPP skirmishes
Reacting to the recent clashes between supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), he said “the recent skirmishes between supporters of the NDC and the NPP cast a slur on Ghana’s hard-earned democratic credentials and image”.
“This act should awaken all Ghanaians to the reality that electoral violence is possible in our country. The current level and spate of violent clashes between the NDC and the NPP have the potential to foul the political atmosphere and even after the elections,” he said.
On whether peace and health walks should be banned during the electioneering because they had resulted in violent and bloody clashes, the Most Rev. Prof. Asante responded: “No.”
“I think what we need to do is put laws in place to ensure that walks don’t degenerate into the violent situations we have found ourselves in. I think we are responsible enough to understand that peace walks must be peace walks and not walks that will generate war,” he said.
Members of the NPC at the press conference included Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams of the Christian Action Faith Ministries; Apostle Opoku-Onyinah, Chairman of the Church of Pentecost; Rev. Ernest Adu Gyamfi, Executive President of the Ghana Baptist Convention; Sheikh Mahamud Gedel, a representative of the National Chief Imam, and Alhaji Maulvi Mohammed Bin Salih, Ameer (Head) and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission.