By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Garu (U/E), Oct. 9, GNA – The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has admonished Ghanaians to eschew every form of violence before, during and after the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, to enhance sustained development.
Speaking at a meeting of the Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) at Garu, organised by the NCCE with support from the European Union under the Preventing and Containing Violence Extremism (PCVE), Mr Samuel Atandor Akolgo, the Garu District of the Commission, underscored the crucial role of stakeholders in ensuring peaceful election.
“We need to maintain social cohesion as Ghanaians and must understand that our differences make us unique and special while we come from different backgrounds, speak different languages, and have different beliefs, we are all Ghanaians.
“We must all act together to preserve the peace of this country during the elections in December 2024 and political and religious intolerance be eschewed in our communities”, he stated.
Held on the theme “Together, we can build the Ghana we want, so get involved,” the goal of the IPDC meeting was to ensure meaningful engagement geared towards constructive dialogue and conflict resolution, building trust and cooperation among political parties, strengthening democratic institutions and processes as well as working towards peaceful election in December 2024.
The IPDC members are to contribute significantly to promoting free, fair, transparent, and peaceful elections by monitoring and reporting threats and vulnerabilities to violent extremism, detecting youth radicalization and signs of recruitment, and mediating and resolving local conflicts.
The District Director charged Ghanaians to respect the outcome of the elections and work together to build a better Ghana, regardless of who won the impending elections.
He urged the citizens to desist from any misinformation and disinformation, fake news, hate speech, personal attacks, provocative utterances, and religious and ethnic violence which had the potential to cause tension.
Mr Jonathan Awatey, a Police officer at the Garu Police Command, explained that violent extremism still posed a significant threat to national security, community stability and individual safety.
He said Neighbouring countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger had experienced significant extremist threats, particularly from groups linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS, adding that while Ghana had relatively stable security institutions, the country may still face challenges, which can be exploited by extremist groups to carry out their activities.
He urged the public to report suspicious characters at the various communities to the security agencies for investigations and actions.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Haruna Ali, the District Chief Executive for the area said the most important things for a nation were the peace and safety of its people, and its territorial integrity and mentioned that the government had taken necessary measures to preserve the political parties’ safety and security in the upcoming general elections.
Reverend Dr Philip Azumah, the Chairman of the IPDC, called on the members to work together to ensure a peaceful election and prevent the youth from being recruited to cause mayhem.
GNA