Peace Council urges stakeholders against hate speech

The National Peace Council (NPC) has encouraged all state institutions in charge of maintaining the peace in the country to be resilient in standing against hate speech and other toxic narratives that are capable of fomenting polarisation and violence in this year’s elections.

The Executive Secretary of the council, George Amoh, noted that the key drivers of violent extremism, terrorism and its associated violence were issues of hate speech and divisive comments.

He said it was, therefore, important for state institutions to play a pivotal role in curbing the menace to prevent anything from marring this year’s elections. He was speaking at a public forum on hate speech in Accra yesterday.

The forum

The event, which was organised by the NPC in partnership with the Media Foundation for West Africa, was on the theme: “Countering Hate Speech and Polarising Narratives to Foster Democratic Consolidation and Peace in Ghana”.

The event formed part of the national efforts to enhance a culture of tolerance and harmony, sanity in information, inclusive social and political narratives to help strengthen the country’s peace and democracy, particularly before, during and after this year’s general election.

It brought together participants who included media experts, security and legal experts, as well as civil society organisations, to deliberate on the phenomenon of hate speech, polarisation, toxic narrative and their impact on political and media discourse.

Hate speech

“I think if we have people who are determined day after day that they will destroy our democracy with divisive comments and hate speech, then we as forces of goodwill and peace must also rally to ensure that we counter such narratives,” the Chairman of the NPC, Mr Amoh, stated

He was of the conviction that the nation was peaceful not because it was unique or the citizens were timid but it was due to the efforts of state institutions such as the National Commission for Civic Education, the National House of Chiefs and the Christian Council of Ghana, among others.

“So we have to continue on this path, and I want to encourage these institutions to continue keeping the peace of our country, particularly as we approach the elections in December.

All of us in the state agencies should do all that we can to ensure integrity. If we do that, we will reduce the avenues for people to spread hate and abusive language,” he said Mr Amoh said the NPC was doing all that it could to prevent any occurrence that could mar the country’s democracy.

Reconceptualisation

The Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission (NMC), George Sarpong, said the time had come for the media to begin to reconceptualise the ethics of journalism, particularly in the two critical elements of fairness and balance.

“Journalism says that any time there is a problem, the journalist must report the two sides to the problem, so if there is a conflict among the political parties, journalism requires that the report should be about what all the factions are saying.

If we reconceptualise these principles we can look at the feuding parties as representing one side and the other side of the spectrum by speaking to the peace builders, the civil society groups and the vulnerable groups who are affected,” he said.

Mr Sarpong said until that was done, the news was always going to highlight the polarising narrative from political parties.