Catholic Bishops appeal for calm in aftermath of 2020 Elections

The Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference (GCBC) has appealed to the leadership of Ghana's major political parties and their supporters to exercise restraint and avoid all forms of violence in the aftermath of the declaration of the election results by the Electoral Commission.

The GCBC in a statement issued on Wednesday and signed by its President Most Rev Philip Naameh appealed to all political parties who have issues with the election results to resort to legitimate procedures for redress.

The statement also expressed concern about the loss of lives and injuries during the poll despite what it described as "the success and peaceful conduct of the elections".

“Despite the success and peaceful conduct of the elections, we have also noted with concern the loss of lives and injuries suffered by some people in constituencies such as Awutu Senya East, Odododiodio, Ablekuma Central, Bono East and Savelugu," the statement said.

"We wish to call on the leadership of the two major political parties and their supporters to exercise restraint and avoid all forms of violence in the aftermath of the declaration of the Presidential and Parliamentary results by the Electoral Commission”.

Appeal to the Electoral Commission

The GCBC further urged the Electoral Commission to keep engaging all the political parties to ensure that all outstanding electoral issues and grievances are dealt with in the interest of the country.

It also called on the security agencies to be very professional in the exercise of their duties in the aftermath of the declaration of the Presidential and Parliamentary results in order to protect life and property.

It will be recalled that Ghana went to the polls on December 7 and the incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was declared the winner of the Presidential election with 51.3 per cent of the vote.

The opposition leader former President, John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) got 47.3 per cent of the vote but has not conceded defeat and described the results as "fraudulent".

Read the entire statement below:

GHANA CATHOLIC BISHOPS' CONFERENCE APPEAL FOR CALM

We, the members of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC) wish to commend all Ghanaians for the peaceful manner in which we have conducted ourselves in the December 7 polls. We also wish to congratulate all contesting candidates for offering themselves for the service of Ghana.

Despite the success and peaceful conduct of the elections, we have also noted with concern the loss of lives and injuries suffered by some people in constituencies such as Awutu Senya East, Odododiodio, Ablekuma Central, Bono East and Savelugu

We wish to call on the leadership of the two major political parties and their supporters to exercise restraint and avoid all forms of violence in the aftermath of the declaration of the Presidential and Parliamentary results by the Electoral Commission. Having monitored recent developments on the political scene after the declaration of the results, we wish to humbly appeal to all who have issues with the results to kindly address these issues through the legitimate procedures for redress.

 We equally wish to urge the Electoral Commission to keep engaging all the political parties to ensure that all outstanding electoral issues and grievances are dealt with in the interest of the country.

 Aware that in every competition there are bound to be winners and losers, we wish to call on all stakeholders to exhibit maturity in accepting both defeat and victory.

In this way, reactions to any of the two conditions would be measured modest and charitable towards one another.

We finally, wish to call on the security agencies to be very professional in the exercise of their duties in the aftermath of the declaration of the Presidential and Parliamentary results in order to protect life and property

Let us always be mindful of the fact that Ghana is all we have as our homeland and so work to maintain the peace and stability that we have always enjoyed as a nation.

God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong!

MOST REV, PHILIP NAAMEH METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOP OF TAMALE & PRESIDENT, GHANA CATHOLIC BISHOPS CONFERENCE

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2020