The National Peace Council (NPC) and their key partners, the Christian Council of Ghana, the Office of the National Chief Imam, and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference have expressed concern about how some persons are fanning religious intolerance in the country in recent times.
In a statement yesterday, the NPC said “we have observed with great concern some insinuations and publications on electronic and social media seeking to inflame religious passion into the 2024 General Elections.
“As the National Institution responsible for peace in the country, the NPC and our partners wish to remind all Ghanaians of the admirable manner by which we have lived together in peace, despite our Religious, Political and Ethnic diversity.
“We have a duty as a people to continue to coexist and tolerate our diversity,” they said. The Council quotes Article 21(1)(c) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana which recognises and protects the rights of all persons to freely practise any religion and to manifest such practice, to endorse their stance.
Article 21(3) also provides for and protects the rights of all Ghanaians to freely form or join political parties and to participate in political activities subject to the qualifications and laws as are necessary in a free and democratic society and consistent with the constitution, the Council added.
The NPC have in the light of the foregone requested “all individuals and groups who are engaging in such insinuations and publications to refrain from such destructive mission and should immediately desist from such actions as they have the tendency to destroy our long cherished pluralistic friendly society.”
The NPC and their partners “further urge all Ghanaians to expose such characters who have embarked on this slippery mission.”