We are not surprised at the fresh demands by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the committee fashioning out a roadmap for stemming vigilantism in the country’s body politic.
While we are not standing against their demands since after all in a democracy the views of others must be respected under the current circumstances, we are constrained to believe that they want to throw spanners into the works of the vigilante talks.
We find this eleventh hour demand in bad faith and plead with them to reconsider it so that the steady progress being recorded is maintained.
Things have sailed smoothly so far and for this fresh demand to threaten the heartwarming progress, as we suspect could happen, is unfortunate.
One major obstacle to democracy in the country is the negativity associated with elections vigilantism being the principal source of it all.
We must move away from the fright and scare image which envelopes the country when elections are around the corner because we have the capacity to do so. The diagnosis is unambiguous. The treatment should, therefore, not be a conundrum.
It is for this reason that the NDC must be compromising especially since the fresh demands of the inclusion of the findings of the Emile Short Commission report in the roadmap is an afterthought.
We do not want to believe that the NDC is against the progress being recorded and would rather want retrogression as an option.
The close to a month of deliberations should not be stalled in this manner. We pray that a common ground is reached so that talks will steer away from the rocks on the beach.
The wish of the NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, that other stakeholders be encompassed into the vigilante talks is for us not a helpful demand at this stage in the life of the National Peace Council (NPC).
There should, of course, be a limit to the membership of such crucial talks. Indeed, all Ghanaians are stakeholders of the talks but not this number can partake in the deliberations.
We find the analogy of the law enforcement agency, the police, amusing. The police we all know have over the years had their work interfered with by politicians at the helm, a charge the NDC Scribe should admit is true if he tilts towards the side of fairness and sincerity.
We can make a difference in our politics when the national interest is allowed to dwarf our individual party inclinations.
There must be a closure to the election-time violence and that is what the Peduase talks are all about.
We must succeed in our resolve to change the narrative otherwise posterity will judge us harshly and the time is now.
Next year’s polls should be bereft of the negative characteristics of previous ones. The President has laid the foundation for the achievement of this goal through the order for an appropriate legislation on the subject.