Churches and other stakeholders to promote peace on Election 2020

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By
Francis Cofie, GNA,

Accra, Feb 27, GNA –
Moral Re-armament and Initiative of Change (MRA/iofc) Ghana, a Non-
Governmental Organisation, has launched its 2020 clean election campaign with a
call on churches to use their media to promote peace and stability ahead of the
forthcoming elections.

Churches, as one of
the many civil society organisations, owe it a huge responsibility to
themselves and the nation to address their members on the need to keep intact
the peace being enjoyed.

In an interview
after the launch, an executive member of the organisation and chairman of the
occasion, Rev. Dr. Richard Amponsah who made the call said peace was a shared
responsibility and all stakeholders including; citizens must put their
shoulders to the wheel to sustain the peace.

The target group in
this year’s campaign, which was on the theme; “peace, just governance and
sustainable democracy”, is the youth and the young people used by political
parties in violent political campaigns and confrontations.

He called on
Ghanaians to take the peace they were enjoying for granted, adding that even
though there was the absence of war over the years, there was the need to keep
drumming the peace messages to maintain the status quo.

The NGO he said, in
every election year since 2000, launched similar campaigns and made peace
statements before, during and after the elections as contributions to national
cause.

The Chairman of the
NGO, Rev. Dr. Francis Acquah in a message said once again, duty awakens us all
to our civic and moral responsibility of making a meaningful contribution
towards the maintenance and sustenance of the democratic process in our
country.


The issues at stake,
he said were too dear to life for any individual or groups to exhibit apathy or
engage in actions that could destroy instead of building and enhancing
democracy.

According to him,
the NGO recognized that the sustenance of prevailing peace and democracy
depended on campaigns that would be run and the manner of handling electoral
processes, and the determination to ensure just governance by those who were
given the mandate to rule.

“It is in this
spirit that we reach out to you as another election period draws closer. The
only reason why evil prevails is when good people decide to be quiet and refuse
to act in the face of life threatening situations”, he said.

A brief speech read
on behalf of the Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II said we should make the
conscious effort as citizens to maintain the peace for posterity adding the
greatest of men are those who lived to pursue, project and protect peace within
society.

“The Ga State
supports the call for peace to be given a chance in our beloved country” he
said.


In a speech, a
representative of the Greater Accra Queen Mothers Association, Nana Ama Djanbea
II said while it was expectant of the electoral commission to ensure free, fair
and peaceful election, the onus equally lied on the political players in the
country.

She said when the
activities of the electoral commission leading to a general election was not
made transparent, and accessible to the people, they would in turn draw their
own conclusions, that might lead to chaos and further lead to violence.

“No activity of the
EC should be seen as trying to disenfranchise any member of the voting public,
she said.

The NGO has helped
to organise a peace march during International Day of Peace to create awareness
and sensitize the public on the need to pursue actions that promote peace,
before, during and after elections.

GNA