Ghana for Peace Campaign launched
The Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante, has advised the youth not to allow themselves to be used as tools of violence.
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He urged them to rather rise up and stand for the truth, before, during and after the upcoming November polls.
“Even if we are in disagreement over issues, it is better for us to talk rather than to fight. This 2016 election, Ghana must win, not your political party, not an individual, but Ghana must win,” he said.
Most Reverend Asante gave the advice at the launch of the Ghana for Peace Campaign, a non-profit movement that seeks to promote peace in Ghana, before, during and after the 2016 general election.
The campaign seeks to achieve peace and non-violence through education, sports and entertainment in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and other peace builders to better understand non-violence and peace and translate such knowledge into practice in their various communities.
Beacon of hope
According to the Most Rev. Asante, Ghana continues to be described as the beacon of hope in the West African sub region, an attribute that has been the envy of neighbouring countries
“There are people who are yearning for equalisation and for all of us to be the same,” he said.
Aside that, he said Ghana, since adopting the multiparty parliamentary democracy in 1992, had enjoyed stability as it had not experienced any serious conflicts like the ones occurring in her neighbouring countries.
Address pertinent issues
He stated, however, that there were a number of issues such as political exclusiveness, poverty, high rate of illiteracy, shared inequality and the growing division between the north and south, as well as the lack of trust of national institutions that urgently needed to be addressed.
“We can talk peace, peace, peace but if we do not address these kinds of issues, peace will continue to elude us and if we are not very careful, one of these days we will get ourselves into something else,” he said.
He also said there was an undue politicisation of everything in the country, which could cause a problem.
“There is undue politicisation of everything in this country to the extent that people joke with it. If you are going to board a trotro, how you board it would determine what kind of political party you belong to. Until we begin to move away and put Ghana first and allow Ghana to become number one, I am afraid we will be creating big problems for ourselves,” he added.
Reverend Asante, therefore, advised all who have a responsibility to play in the electoral process to duly play their respective roles to ensure that Ghana wins the upcoming elections.
Committed to transparent elections
The Director of Administration of the Electoral Commission (EC), Christian Owusu Parry, said the commission had put in place measures to ensure that the electoral process would continue to remain very transparent.
Among such measures, he said, is the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting which allows political parties to make inputs into the electoral process and also abide by such contributions.