We are working hard to prevent violence during the elections – Peace Council

Janet Sarney-Kuma, Director in charge of Capacity Development and Outreach at the National Peace Council has assured that the Council is working hard to prevent violence before, during and after the 2024 general elections.

She therefore called on all stakeholders to let them work together to build and uphold peace so that they could have a peaceful election and a peaceful transition devoid of violence, destruction of property or loss of innocent lives.

“This is election year, and we have only one country which is Ghana. We cannot go to Nigeria or Cote d’Ivoire among others and so, we should not take the peace that we have for granted,” she emphasized.

Mrs. Sarney-Kuma gave the assurance in an exclusive interview on the sideline of a two-day training programme at Dorimon in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region, for traditional and religious leaders on conflict resolution, negotiations and confidence building for effective conflict management at the community level.

The three-year project sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under its Atlantic Corridor Project is being implemented across three conflict-prone regions namely; North-East, Upper East and Upper West Regions.

The Director in charge of Capacity Development and Outreach noted that the Peace Council was doing a lot including quarterly meetings with the political parties in Accra which they hope to extend to other regions.

They were also hoping for more funding to enable them organize peace pacts across the regions to educate the people on the need for sustainable peace before, during and after the elections.

“For us to achieve peace in the community, we will have to get our traditional leaders well trained and well informed about issues concerning conflicts, its management and mediation,” she said.

“We believe that if they have that knowledge, it will go a long way to inform the way they will handle issues when a conflict arises. The knowledge will equip them to manage their conflicts better when they arise,” she added.

Mr. Emmanuel Danyomah, the Executive Secretary of the Upper West Regional Peace Council urged religious and traditional leaders to endeavour to understand the dynamics of conflict before initiating action to resolve them.

“Understanding the need, rationale, cultural dynamics of a conflict among others, will enable you analyse the conflict properly and take the appropriate actions to resolve it,” he said.

He also pleaded with them to always shelve their emotions and deal with the truth, adding that it was only when they detach their emotions from the conflict that they could act appropriately in resolving the conflict.

Rev. Fr. Dr. Moses Banungwiiri, the Archdeacon of the Anglican Church in Wa and the Chairman of the Upper West Regional Peace Council admonished chiefs and religious leaders to endeavour to speak the truth to help maintain peace in their communities.

He said, of late, some religious leaders were drifting away from preaching the truth while some chiefs were also becoming increasingly corrupt and because of that people no longer trust in them to mediate when there were conflicts.

Naa Bawa Seidu, the Chief of Duasi lauded the Peace Council for the programme, saying the knowledge shared would help them in resolving conflicts when they come up.

According to him, many conflicts would not have existed today if they were properly handled by the mediators.