By Rachel Kakraba
The National Peace Council (NPC), has applauded the New Patriotic Party’s presidential candidate and Vice President Dr. Mahamadou Bawumia, for conceding defeat to the NDC’s presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama.
The move it believes is a commitment to upholding the Presidential Peace Pact, which all political parties in the 2024 elections are signatories. Chairman of the NPC, Rev. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, speaking at a news conference in Accra, stated that the action has enhanced Ghana’s democratic process in Africa and the world at large.
The news conference is part of an Election Situation Room initiative, ESR, implemented by the National Peace Council in partnership with the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, WANEP.
With about 510 accredited observers who have been deployed across all the regions of Ghana, ESR monitors, analyses, and mitigates electoral violence as well as contributes to a peaceful and credible election.zs
The Election Situation Room is supported by the European Union and the United States Agency for International Development, USAID and with complementary funding from the governments of Sweden, Austria, and the United Kingdom.
Rev. Adu-Gyamfi, in making recommendations, encouraged political parties to cooperate with the Electoral Commission as well as the Election Security.
“We employ political parties to encourage their supporters to be law-abiding and for Ghanaians to be peaceful during this post-election period.”
Adding on, “We want the EC, political parties, and other relevant government institutions to consider the implementation of recommendations from the report of domestic and international election observer missions to improve electoral processes in the country.”
Other recommendations included the need for political parties and their supporters to avoid using abusive words to express their views, especially on social media. Encouraging the National Security Task Force to deploy a timely and effective response mechanism to address security concerns in the post-election period.
“We entreat Ghanaians to celebrate victory in magnanimity, demonstrate patriotism and embrace Civic responsibility in the interest of social cohesion and national unity. In reference to the Presidential Peace Pact signed, we encourage all stakeholders to utilise laydown procedures to seek redress on any electoral grievance.”
The Peace Council encouraged party supporters to remain calm in anticipation of official declaration by the Electoral Commission, EC.
“As we await the official declaration of results by the EC, the Election Situation Room encourages all parties and their supporters to remain calm and uphold the rule of law to observe and preserve the peace that this country is enjoying currently.”
