Working to enhance peace-building initiatives

Ghana joined the rest of the world to mark International Day of Peace yesterday[September 21,2022].

The day has been set aside for humanity to think peace and act peace.

The global theme for the commemoration of the day: “End racism, build peace”, was apt by all standards and an appropriate reminder for the world to constantly work to end this canker of racism which is threatening peace in many parts of the world.

Without any doubt, we need peace to develop. It is, therefore, important that everything is done to nurture and protect the peace we enjoy as a nation.

If we lose our peace, the consequences will be dire, with an impact on every endeavour.

Without peace, we can’t develop and our roads, health, educational and other sectors will be affected. Peace is, therefore, fundamental to the accelerated development of any country.

Again, when there is no peace, it is the vulnerable who suffer, particularly children, women and the weak in society.

As humans, we are interdependent. We, therefore, need one another for the progress of the world. This means we all have a role to play to promote peace.

Churches, traditional authorities, the media, academia, civil society, politicians and the citizenry all have a share in this enterprise of ensuring peace and social cohesion, not only in Ghana but everywhere in the world.

It is important we all avoid grounds for discrimination. Fortunately, in this country we do have the National Peace Council leading in the effort to ensure a peaceful state.

Indeed, the council has a greater responsibility to coordinate and harmonise peace initiatives.

Our political actors too have a huge role to play. As leaders, they are supposed to act in manners that unite the nation, rather than divide us.

Also, as a country, we all have the mandate to own peace-building initiatives. This is simply because conflicts just destroy everything, including the economy and the well-being of the individual.

Every effort must be made to ensure we integrate more and more, as well as sustainably create the needed awareness of peace-building gestures, as well as respect for one another.

In fact, we also need deliberate state policies to enhance peace-building gestures.

We do not harbour any doubt that conflict is as old as humanity. Nonetheless, when it occurs, we need to find peace and harmony through dialogue.

Ghana has come a long way, and peace being at the core of the Sustainable Development Goals, cannot be taken for granted.

We must, therefore, continue to develop structures and systems that will support and sustain our peace endeavours.

We must work to support our marginalised communities and generally work to improve access to essential services.

We also believe that when we address the challenges of the marginalised, it will go a long way to bring about peace.

Although we have done quite well democratically, we seem to have become complacent and our political discourse is nothing to write home about.

As we celebrate International Day of Peace, we urge our political actors to work to reverse the trend.

Let’s think national and talk national and refrain from seeing everything with a political eye. We must put the national interest first. When we are able to do that, we will be able to preserve the peace that we currently enjoy as a country.