Tone down political tension — Speakers
Speakers at a peace forum have appealed to the public to encourage discussions that will tone down political tension in the country.
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They said such discourse, free from insults and invective, is the best way to build trust and reduce the political atmosphere which had been characterised by apprehension, quarrels and insults.
Speaking at the forum which was held at Madina in the La Nkwantanang Municipality last Saturday, the District Minister of the Madina Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Rev. Michael G. Anim-Tettey, expressed displeasure at the utterances of some political commentators.
Peaceful co-existence
The forum was organised by the PCG on the theme: “Religion as a resource for promoting sustainable peaceful co-existence with people of other faith.”
Rev. Anim-Tettey observed that election 2016 promised to be crucial because the stakes were high for both the incumbent and opposition parties.
“The incumbent will want to remain in government to prove its popularity, while the opposition parties will want to wrest power from the ruling party,”he explained.
Rev. Anim-Tettey, therefore, appealed to politicians to be circumspect in their utterances to ensure peace in the country.
Issues not insults
As Ghana prepares for its seventh consecutive election in November this year, political tension has already started building up.
In view of that, a civil society organisation, the Media Foundation for West Africa, had implemented a special election campaign dubbed “Issues, Not Insults” under its project “Promoting Decent Language and Issues-based Campaigning for Peaceful Elections in Ghana in 2016.”
The main focus of the project is to monitor, report, name utter shame those who make hate speech or utter indecent expressions on 70 of the most influential radio stations across the country.
Educate members
The co-ordinator of the forum, Francis Ahene-Affoh, underscored the need to promote faith-based dialogue.