Ensure violence-free election in Akwatia - Religious leaders appeal to NDC, NPP

Six religious leaders have made an urgent appeal to the two major political parties contesting the Akwatia by-election tomorrow not to engage the services of private security persons, especially heavily built men, known in local parlance as ‘machomen’.

That, they indicated, would make the election very peaceful and violence-free.

The religious leaders are the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Rt Rev. Dr Abraham Nana Opare-Kwakye, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Koforidua, Most Rev. Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum, and the Bishop of the Koforidua Diocese of the Anglican Church, Rt Rev. Felix Odei Annancy.

The rest are the Bishop of the Koforidua Diocese of the Methodist Church, Rt Rev. Dennis Joseph Boadu; the Executive President of the Ghana Baptist Convention, Rev. Enoch Nii Narh Thompson; and the Eastern Regional Chief Imam, Alhaji Yusif Amudani Sulemana.

They made the appeal in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic in Koforidua and Kyebi, respectively, in the Eastern Region last Friday.

The Ghana Baptist Convention gave its message as part of a four-point communique it issued at the end of its 62nd annual session held in Ejura in the Ashanti Region.

The religious leaders said the NDC and the NPP should allow only the police to handle any security issue relating to the conduct of the election.

No mayhem

The Moderator of the Presby Church, the first to speak at Kyebi, said the by-election was coming on due to the unfortunate demise of the late MP, Ernest Yaw Kumi, and that his memory should be honoured with a peaceful by-election.

He said the event was only to choose a successor for the late MP through the ballot box, which did not require people to indulge in mayhem during the by-election.

"Since 1992, every four years we vote to choose a representative for our constituencies.

It is my prayer that all stakeholders in the process will exhibit a high level of professionalism in their line of duty – be it political parties, security personnel and the Electoral Commission staff – to ensure the election is conducted peacefully, freely, transparently and fairly," Rt Rev. Dr Opare-Kwakye stated.

Ablekuma North incident

For his part, Most Rev. Afrifah-Agyekum reminded the NDC and the NPP of the recent unfortunate incident at the Ablekuma North election rerun, which was characterised by mayhem due to the involvement of machomen.

He said no machoman should be allowed to set foot in the area during the by-election.

Most Rev.  Afrifah-Agyekum indicated that the contest to occupy the parliamentary seat was not between enemies, and as such, it must be devoid of violence.

Voters, the Bishop stated, must be guaranteed the freedom to exercise their franchise to elect whoever they wanted to represent them in Parliament.

He expressed the hope that the deployment of over 5,000 policemen to maintain law and order would live up to expectations.

Machomen cause trouble

The Anglican Bishop of Koforidua, who was also not happy about the violence associated with the recent Ablekuma North election rerun, stressed that since machomen often caused trouble in any election, it would be dangerous to allow them to be in the area during the election.

Rt Rev. Fr Annancy, therefore, urged leaders of the contesting parties not to deploy machomen in the area during the election.

He said the police should be allowed to manage and deal with all security concerns.

The Eastern Regional Chief Imam said that machomen had no place in the election, other than to cause trouble and, therefore, advised political party leaders to desist from engaging them.

Alhaji Sulemana also advised the youth in the Akwatia communities to resist any temptation to cause trouble before, during and after the polls, and called on the police to deal drastically with any machoman attempting to cause trouble at any of the polling stations within the constituency.

Violent conduct

The Methodist Bishop of Koforidua asked the NDC and the NPP to call their followers to order by telling them to desist from engaging in violent conduct ahead of the upcoming by-election.

Rt Rev. Boadu said the election was not about war but a civic responsibility of every citizen who attained the voting age of 18 and above to participate in the decision-making process.

He charged the electorate not to allow themselves to be used by some selfish politicians to foment trouble.

"We should remind political parties about the need for peace, which is paramount and the catalyst for development,” Rt Rev. Boadu stated.

The Ghana Baptist Convention also urged all key stakeholders to ensure that today’s by-election in Akwatia is violence-free, reports Gilbert Mawuli Agbey, from Ejura.

“The election should be a departure from the usual violence that characterised previous by-elections held in the country,” Rev. Thompson said.

The Executive President of the Ghana Baptist Convention, therefore, charged all to ensure that the outcome of the election was peaceful and devoid of violence.

Rev. Thompson prayed against the repeat of the pockets of violence that characterised the Ablekuma North rerun, saying “as a democratic country, violence should not be part of our elections”.

Writer's email: haruna.wunpini@graphic.com.gh