The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said that the party will not sign any peace declaration as the country approaches the upcoming December 7 elections.
According to the National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, such agreements have not been effective in maintaining peace across the country.
“Signing a peace declaration doesn’t mean anything to the party, as previous pacts have not yielded any real results,” Asiedu Nketia stated.
He said rather than relying solely on symbolic gestures, proactive efforts are needed to avert violence.
“If you allow violence to brew, it will happen whether you sign a declaration or not. That’s why, more than a year ago, I started talking about the need to remove the building blocks for a violent election,” he explained.
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He further criticised the focus on signing peace agreements after tensions have already escalated, urging authorities to address the root causes of potential violence before it spirals out of control.
“At any stage when something is happening, I call on those who, in the future, will call us to sign a declaration to speak up and stop it from happening.
“Otherwise, if you let these issues build up and then say, ‘Let’s play a peace football match, sign a declaration, and hope for a peaceful election,’ it won’t work. We did all this and more in 2020,” he said.
Mr Asiedu Nketia indicated that despite the involvement of bodies like the Council of State and the Peace Council in previous peace declarations, the 2020 election was still marred by violence.
“Signing or not signing is not the issue. What we need to address are the building blocks that lead to violence,” he insisted.