The other stakeholders in the meeting held last Monday night at the Institute of African Studies (IAS) of the University of Ghana, Legon were religious representatives, civil society organisations, the security agencies and students from the University of Ghana, Legon and the Islamic University.

Carrying placards, they pledged to safeguard the current peace the country was enjoying before, during and after the general election.

They urged all Ghanaians, especially politicians and those seeking the mandate of the electorate, to pledge and assure all that they stood for peace and that they would not do anything to mar the achievement of the country in the area of democracy.

They, however, urged the election management body to be fair, credible, truthful, transparent and consistent in the conduct of the election.

The meeting was on the theme, “Making Ghana’s 2016 election peaceful – The role of stakeholders” and organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa.

It was addressed by representatives from the Electoral Commission, the National Commission for Civic Education, the Ghana Police Service, Representatives from the National Chief Imam and the Christian community.

Pledge for peace

Leading the pledge for peace, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Mr Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, pledged to ensure that there would be no violence whatsoever, saying, “There will be nothing that will disturb the peace in this constituency.”

“I promise on my honour as a Ghanaian, that if there is problem in the Ayawaso West Wuogon, take it from me, I give my word on my life and on the life of my children that it won’t come from me.

“I will not, I state again, I will not start any trouble, I will not start a fight. I pray that nobody, no other political party would like to start a fight,” he pledged.

He said even though he pledged to play by the rules, “I will not allow my hands to be tied and beaten.”

Electoral Commission as a referee

Mr Agyarko urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to play its role as the referee, saying, “I hope and pray that before the election, during the election and after the election, the one that stands in the middle, the Electoral Commissioner, will be fair, will be truthful, will be consistent and will be transparent.

“I can speak for my political party, the NPP. I say without provocation, we don’t want the EC to wear our jersey. We don’t want them to be number 12 of our football team. In the same way, we don’t want the EC to be the number 12 of any political party,” he said.

For her part, the Second Vice Chairman of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Madam Susan Adu Amankwa, pledged that the CPP shall definitely not be the one to start the fight, to intimidate people or engage in any uncivilised act.

“We pledge peace before, during and after the election, and we pledge that we shall ensure that our members abide by all the rules and regulations governing this country. We pray that everybody else does the same,” she said.

Root cause of tension

A former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Justice Emile Short, noted that every election year, Ghanaians would always pray and hope for peace, but expressed concern that nothing was done to address the root cause of the issue.

He explained that the root cause of the tension that was generated in every election was the kind of governance system the country practised, where the winning party took control of everything, excluding the losing parties from everything.

He cited situations in Kenya and Ivory Coast as things that could equally happen in Ghana and, therefore, advised Ghanaians not to take the peace the country was enjoying for granted.

Sudan experience

The President of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan who spoke on the topic, “The impact of conflict on the society, the South Sudan experience”, Mr Alfred L. Taban, cautioned Ghana to desist from toeing tribal lines as that was the major cause of the genocide in Sudan.

He also singled out corruption as a potential cause of conflict, which also played a significant role in the conflict in South Sudan resulting in the killing of thousands of people in that country.