National Peace Council to resolve NDC, EC impasse over election verdict

The National Peace Council (NPC) is working to resolve some issues raised by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) about the declaration of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the winner of the 2020 polls by the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana.

According to the NPC, it is engaging some key personalities and stakeholders behind the scenes to help address the concerns of the NDC.

Rev. Dr Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, the Chairman of the NPC told the Daily Graphic in an interview that “It is a complex issue now; when people experience shock, pain, and loss, they react differently. Sometimes there is the need to allow tension to go down before you can re-engage and so what we are doing now is to determine the best approach to the whole issue going forward.”

He added that the NPC had received calls from many foreign missions in the country, asking the kind of help the council would need to address the problem for peace to prevail since the NDC stated that they reject the outcome of the December 7 elections.

But the NPC had told those embassies to hold on to enable it to determine the best way to go around the issue.

“Once we are done, I think we will be able to speak to the public as to what steps we have taken. We will, therefore, urge Ghanaians to remain patient and peaceful since we are working feverishly to ensure that the country remains peaceful,” Rev. Dr Adu-Gyamfi said.

Rev. Dr Adu-Gyamfi further reminded the political parties of the peace pact they signed. Part of that pact is the requirements that they would accept the election verdict or go to court if they had grievances.

“So, we expect them to adhere to what they signed to make sure that the country remains peaceful.

“I really want to appeal to former President John Dramani Mahama, in particular, to speak to his people to calm down, and then we take steps to deal with the matter.

“There are regulations regarding electoral disputes and how to resolve them. Going to the streets does not solve the problem,” he said.

The President of the Ghana Baptist Convention further stated that, once it was mediation, it was difficult to put a timeline to it, adding that “we need to spend Christmas in peace; the country cannot continue to be doing politics all year”.

Rev. Dr Ernest Adu-Gyamfi said the group put in place to monitor the elections was meeting to review its operation.

He noted that his outfit had “350 reporters on the field, the National Commission for Civic Education had 1,300 reporters in addition to ours on the field.

“Our situation room had 45 staff who were collating information from all the reporters from the field,” he said.