Ghana's peace not absolute – Rev. Asante

The Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante, has downplayed the growing thinking that there is total peace in Ghana as he cautioned Ghanaians not to do anything  to undermine and compromise the peace and unity the country is enjoying.

He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to maintain the relative peace in the country, especially during the run up to the 2016 general elections.

Professor Asante was speaking at the launch of a project to educate the Ghanaian electorate on the need to avoid election-related violence in order to protect the peace the country has been privileged with.

Initiated by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) foundation in partnership with Cartoonists Alliance Ghana (CAG), the two organisations launched a book and exhibited cartoons aimed at promoting violence-free elections.

 The objective of the project is to use political cartoons to promote voter education through timely, relevant and easy-to understand messages on the need to prevent violence before, during and after the 2016 elections.

It is also to trigger and sustain public discourse around the negative developmental impact of election-related violence in Ghana.

Presenting a statement on behalf of CAG, Mr Hugh Quist, the brain behind Zingaro cartoons, said in putting their messages together through cartoons they identified 5 thematic areas that reflected the general interest and concerns of the ordinary voter.

These, he said, include: exposing electoral malpractice, election-related violence, political parties and their manifestoes as well as a credible and transparent electoral commission.

He explained that the cartoons for the peace project will make strong commentaries on the roles and conduct of politicians, political parties, the media, some state institution and youth vulnerable to manipulations by politicians.

Mr Quist was of the hope that the cartoons will get a buy-in from the general public, adding that he expects Ghanaians to own the messages so they can foster a common voice that says no to election violence.

The president of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Roland Affail Monney, urged journalists to internalise the messages in the cartoons in their line of work.