Otumfuo Osei Tutu II — AsanteheneHow Ghanaians will react to the Supreme Court election petition verdict will be the subject for discussion at a National Summit to be held on July 19, 2013.
The one-day summit, scheduled for the Banquet Hall of the State House, is being organised by the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), in collaboration with the National Peace Council (NPC), the Manhyia Palace and the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI).
It is on the theme, “Justice, Peace and Reform will Strengthen Ghana”.
The event will be heralded by a press conference at the IDEG Auditorium at East Legon in Accra on July 17, 2013.
Among other things, the objective of the forum is to raise awareness and improve understanding of the importance of inter-party dialogue to manage the substantive issues that are likely to arise from the Supreme Court verdict.
About 1,200 participants, comprising the two living former Presidents of Ghana, eminent kings, chiefs and queen mothers, including the President and members of the National House of Chiefs, leaders of the Christian and Islamic faiths in Ghana, leaders of civil society organisations, think tanks, advocacy and development NGOs, the Trades Union Congress and organised labour groups, the leaders/representatives of the political parties, corporate leaders of the private sector, security agencies, Members of Parliament, members of the Council of State, Cabinet ministers, leaders of independent government institutions, the heads of diplomatic missions and international development organisations, state officials, women, the youth, children and ordinary citizens, are expected to participate in the event.
In the heat of the 2012 elections, IDEG, together with the NPC and the Manhyia Palace, ensured that the eight presidential candidates appended their signatures to a novelty and historic electoral pact committing them to avoid all manner of acts, including impunity, injustice and violence, that could throw the country into confusion.
There is growing anxiety nation-wide over how the political parties and their supporters will respond to the verdict of the Supreme Court regarding the election petition filed by the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and two others against the declaration of President John Mahama as the winner of the 2012 presidential election.
Whether disappointed supporters will react violently or there will be leadership that steers the nation towards peace; whether there will be the rule of law and good governance or chaos thereafter are some of the issues to be addressed at the forum.
The presidential election petition before the Supreme Court is perhaps one more act in the peaceful contest between Ghana’s duopoly of two political parties —- the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition NPP.
A policy paper on the forum signed by the Executive Director of IDEG, Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, said, “There is risk that the Supreme Court verdict could provoke a violent reaction, especially among irate supporters of the party that ends up the loser in the litigation.”
“Also, frustrated citizens among the reserve army of unemployed and marginalised youth in the country can also be actively recruited to undertake violent actions as part of armed resistance. For several years now, Ghana has been grappling with the smuggling of small arms into the country, especially from countries in the sub-region where civil strife had degenerated into full-scale civil wars,” it said.
In that regard, the paper said, “many of the issues could foment political crises if not properly and carefully handled. A major constraint to getting the two major political parties to dialogue is the reluctance of the leaders of the two parties to talk about the serious issues of conflict — ideological, political and policy, or their sheer inability to do so”.
It said “parallel to the preparation towards the national summit is the designing of an informed national dialogue process”.
“The design addresses issues that were raised by the political parties during informal consultations with them and is also informed by capacity needs derived from the assessment of existing dialogue mechanisms, practices, achievements and challenges,” the paper added.
Newer news items:
Older news items: