The presidential candidates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), President Akufo-Addo and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and former President John Dramani Mahama are expected to sign onto a Presidential Elections Peace Pact on December 4, 2020. The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, GBC will broadcast the event live on all of its platforms.
Reports show that Peace Pacts were signed before the 2012 and the 2016 elections which led to the absence of electoral violence, impunity and injustice in the two previous elections in Ghana.
Signing of the Peace Pact for Election 2020, comes four (4) days into Ghana’s Presidential and Parliamentary Elections on December Seven (7) and will signify the political party candidates’ public demonstration of commitment to peace during the polls. Monday’s General Election will be the eighth (8), for Ghana since ushering in the start of the Fourth Republic.
Organizers of the event, the Institute for Democratic Governance, IDEG, have indicated in a post on Instagram @idegghana that, ‘’when the Peace Pact is signed, it is a binding commitment to ensure peace before, during and after the elections. It is also proof that your candidate stands for peace. And it is evidence that your candidate has put loyalty to their country above loyalty to their party’’ according to IDEG.
The peace pact is also fundamentally aimed at ensuring non-violence during the elections, and a resort to judicial process to seek redress in case of disputes, so as to work towards eradicating vigilantism.
As a precursor to the signing of the Peace Pact, a High-Level Convening of the Road Map and Code of Conduct to End Political Vigilantism in Ghana has been held at the premises of the National Peace Council in Accra. The meeting was an opportunity for the Civil Society Organizations to discuss their collaborative efforts around the road map and to properly document efforts of implementation while charting the way forward in eradicating vigilantism in Ghana.
Executive Director of NORSAAC, Mohammed Awal disclosed that it is partnering with the National Peace Council with support from the STAR GHANA Foundation and funding from UK aid and EU in its engagements.
He said NORSAAC would ensure that messages delivered and the signing of the Peace Pact by the Political Parties, especially the NDC and the NPP are well explained to citizens. Mr Awal explained saying ‘’we are working closely with some media houses amid budget constraints to connect citizens to the issues. While commending the media and also sending a caution to be circumspect in reporting the election results so as not to incite the people’’.
Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, George Amoh, did not mince words where he indicated that signing of the Presidential Election Peace Pact by Nana Akufo Addo and Mr. Mahama would signify the ‘’the high point in working towards peace in Ghana’s election on December 7’’.
BY Rebecca Ekpe
