The Chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev Emmanuel Asante has called for a national debate on the revolution of the nation’s institutions so they reflect the Ghanaian ethos and the way things are done in the country.
Speaking on Citi FM, Rev Asante indicated that, “these foreign institutions that we have put in place are not in tune with our ethos and this promotes adversarial ways of dealing with issues.”
According to Rev Asante the Peace Council was one such institution that had been able to do that effectively was and had thus been able to play a significant role in averting conflict after the 2008 elections.
“While we support the NPP in terms of the approach that they have taken and appreciate the leaders telling their supporters that using extra legal means will not help anybody, we have tried to get a number of people to come in and help us deal with the impasse,” he said.
The Peace Council, a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament, Act 818, has throughout the election period played a crucial role in maintaining a lid on the political atmosphere in the country.
Rev Asante revealed that, “In general 99.5 of the Ghanaian people are people who are yearning for peace for peace as well as all the leaders of the political party in spite of the things they say concerning one other for political reasons there is no one there who is yearning for bloodshed.”
He however, bemoaned the situation where due to “their external posture, supporters of these political parties instead of seeing themselves as opponents, see themselves as enemies and the kind of things they said against one another especially the NPP and the NDC gave us obvious signs that we needed to do something to stall any kind of violation of the peace we have in this country”.
Rev Emmanuel Asante further opined, “It is good that we look at our political leaders as people with integrity. I want to believe that they are a people of integrity. For them to stand in public in the eyes of TV cameras and all radio stations tuned in to make a public declaration that we are committed to peace and that we stand against electoral violence, impunity and injustice and to say that it was just a gimmick; men of integrity will not do a thing of this nature. I want to believe that they meant every word they uttered”.
