Prioritise peace in electoral campaigns - Peace Council urges political parties

The National Peace Council (NPC) has urged political parties to prioritise national peace and security by conducting decent campaigns ahead of this year's elections. 

The Chairman of the NPC, Rev. Dr Ernest Adu Gyamfi, who made the call, stressed that the campaigns by political parties and politicians must be devoid of rancour, use of intemperate language and unnecessary name-calling that could jeopardise the peace of the country.

Particularly, he said, political party communicators must know that even as they sought to project the ideologies of their parties for electoral fortunes, they also had a duty to refrain from inciting their supporters to act in ways that could lead to violence.

"We know that sometimes when the political platforms are charged, people are tempted to say what they do not have to say.

Let us all be guided to speak responsibly for the peace and stability of our country," he said.

Rev. Dr Gyamfi was speaking at the launch of the second phase of the Prevention of Violent Extremism through Social Accountability (PoVETSA) II in Accra yesterday.

The Deputy Director of the National Counter Terrorism Fusion Centre, Daniel Osei Bonsu, launched the project at the ceremony which was attended by the Ambassador of Netherlands, Jeroen Verheul, and the Country Director of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Daniel Mumuni.  

Project

The PoVETSA II, an initiative of CRS, seeks to promote peace-building by building the capacity of stakeholders through regional training, awareness creation, advocacy and engagement.

The three-year project is being implemented with funding from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with support from other local bodies such as the NPC and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC).

It is an increase on the gains made under PoVETSA I which was implemented last year. 

The project will be implemented in 13 districts across five regions - Upper East, Upper West, North East, Northern and Greater Accra. 

Crucial elections

The NPC Chairman said the project was crucial because it would help stakeholders such as civil society organisations (CSOs), the security agencies and opinion leaders to work together towards preventing violence in the country.

He said the project had come at an opportune time, given that the country was heading to a crucial general election where many factors that had dire security implications would come into play.

The Country Director of CRS, Mr Mumuni, observed that the state of insecurity observed that with 2024 being an election year, the situation could escalate tensions, which was why political actors needed to be guarded in their utterances. 

Triggers

The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana said the use of vigilante groups remained one of the greatest threats to security and softest spots for extremist activities in the country.