Sunyani, Dec. 05, GNA – The Bono Regional Peace Council with support from the Sunyani Catholic Diocese has held a meeting with the two parliamentary candidates in the Banda constituency of the Bono Region ahead of the December 7, polls.
A political violence erupted between supporters of Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) and Mr Joe Danquah, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate and left one dead during the Electoral Commission’s new voter’s registration exercise.
Since then there has been an uneasy calm in the area, which the peace council noted had huge potential to trigger political violence and mar the beauty of the Presidential and Parliamentary election in the constituency, if the impasse between the candidates was not resolved.
But, the two parliamentary candidates arrived at consensus during the closed door meeting, held in Sunyani, which the Council described as a significant headway in ensuring peace before, during and after the December 7, polls.
Mr Suallah Abdallah Quandah, the Bono Regional Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council (NPC) told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the meeting achieved desirable results.
The meeting was moderated by Most Reverend Mathew Kwasi Gyamfi, the Catholic Bishop of the Sunyani Diocese, and attended by some chiefs from the Banda constituency.
Mr Quandah said the meeting agreed “no person shall obstruct or attempt to obstruct a registered voter in the constituency from voting”.
“Any candidate or agent of a political party who knows or has reasonable cause to believe that a person was not expected to vote in the area, but did so because his/her name appeared on the register lodge a complaint against the registered voter afterward”.
It further agreed “any person who obstructs or attempts to obstruct a voter should be arrested and handed over to the Police”.
“The two parliamentary candidates are to educate their followers and agents not to obstruct or attempt to obstruct any eligible voter from voting. The party agents should rather lodge a complaint at the Banda Police station”.
Mr Quandah commended the two parliamentary candidates for the consensus building and expressed the hope that they would comply with the agreement to facilitate a peaceful and successful election in the constituency.
GNA