Rev Dr. Ernest Adu Gyamfi
The National Peace Council (NPC) has commended the Electoral Commission (EC) “for a good work done which ensured efficiency of the biometric devices used during the voting process.”
In a statement signed by the its chairman, Rev Dr. Ernest Adu Gyamfi, the council expressed gratitude to all the political parties, the National Elections Security Taskforce, International Observation Missions, Domestic Election Observers, Civil Society Organization, religious bodies, and the media for their independent and objective assessment of the electoral processes which contributed immensely to the peaceful conduct of the elections.
“The National Peace Council wishes to thank the almighty God for seeing Ghana through the eighth general elections in the fourth Republic and to commend Ghanaians for the peaceful and orderly conduct of the elections on Monday, December 7, 2020,” the statement went on, adding that the near absence of political vigilante activities in the flashpoints identified by the police, the EC and the National Peace Council before and after the December 7, election is commendable. This, the statement went on, “was indeed a demonstration of the commitment by the political parties to the roadmap and the code of conduct which they signed after the dialogue to eradicate political vigilantism in Ghana.”
The National Peace Council, nonetheless, the statement pointed out, “regrets the pockets of violent incidents, including protest actions that were recorded during and after the collation and the declaration of the election results, some of which resulted into injuries and fatalities.”
For example it noted “a Joint Operation Centre of the National Election Security Taskforce recorded 61 election and post-election-related incidents from December 7 to 9, 2020. Twenty-one of these were election-related violence with six involving gunshots which unfortunately, culminated into the death of some citizens.”
While we express our deepest condolences to the bereaved families, we strongly condemn these incidents and call on the police and other investigative bodies to hold to account the perpetrators in line with the laws of the land, the council urged.
In the interest of preserving Ghana’s peace and democracy credentials, the council calls on all those who are contesting the outcome of the elections to do so within the legal framework and guided by the 1992 Constitution, Political Parties Act (2002), case laws based on the 2012 Supreme Court election petition and the Regulations 127 (CI) among others.
Besides, the National Peace Council would like to draw the attention of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) about their public commitment to peace and non-violence when their presidential candidates ahead of the December 7, 2020 Presidential & Parliamentary Elections signed the Peace Pact on December 4, 2020. It was also worthwhile to refer to the admonition of His Lordship the Chief Justice at the event, where he called on all those who might have grievances emanating from the elections to seek legal redress at the court instead of on the streets, the council stated.
It is from this backdrop that the National Peace Council encourages particularly the NDC and any other politician with grievances to use the laid down processes to address their electoral dispute.
By A.R. Gomda