Right Reverend Samuel Kofi Osabutey, Chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Peace Council (GARPC), has urged political parties to prioritize consensus building over violence in the 2024 General Election.
He said that employing violence to resolve electoral disputes would harm not only the parties involved, but also innocent citizens, and would be damaging to the country’s progress.
Rt. Rev. Osabutey made the remarks at the opening of a two-day capacity-building program for political parties on trust building and intra and inter-party dispute resolution mechanisms.
The training is to empower political parties to resolve disputes without resorting to violence and concretely imbibe the principles of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms into their party structures for addressing intra and inter-party conflicts.
It was held on the theme: “Political party trust-building program and intra as well as inter-party mechanism addressing conflict”.
ADR, also known as appropriate dispute resolution, would strive to resolve conflicts in a non-confrontational manner, with adjudication, arbitration, mediation, and negotiations serving as the most direct path to a mutually acceptable resolution, the GARPC Chairman said.
He said ADR would manage and resolve complaints faster, lead to more innovative ideas, save time, and create solutions acceptable to all parties involved, thereby restoring peaceful relationships.
Rt. Rev. Osabutey said tolerance was required for election administration to provide credible election outcomes, and that the general trust in the administration’s integrity would increase the acceptance and legitimacy of the winner.
He urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to strive for transparency in electoral administration, which is regarded as a confidence-building measure.
He said that political parties should play a role in preserving the process’s integrity by requesting enough facts, as well as ensuring the independence of election management bodies once appointments have been made.
Mr George Amoo, Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council (NPC), stated that the Council, which is an Act of Parliament, has the mandate to prevent, manage, and resolve conflicts.
He stated that because 2024 was an election year, the Council would facilitate and develop mechanisms such as dialogues, training, awareness creation, and the development of manuals to guide behaviors to ensure peaceful elections.
Mr Amoo said that Ghana lacked documentation that directed how citizens spoke about election issues, thus the NPC would develop a guideline to be used to draw attention to acceptable practice.
He said the NPC would collaborate with the Media Foundation for West Africa, the Ghana Journalists Association, the Media Commission, and others to share best practices in dealing with hate speech and misinformation to equip and orient citizens and media practitioners to take part in useful discussions.
“We would reach out to larger stakeholders among whom are the security agencies, Chief Justice and EC,” he said, explaining that flagbearers would not be left out, to help commit political parties for clean campaigns.
The Executive Secretary stated that this would reduce expressions of tension before, during, and after the elections.
Mr Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, Accra Regional Secretary for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who led the debate, urged the organizers to bring key players, including the police and the EC, together for effective deliberations in their next sitting.
Other political parties participating in the two-day workshop include the Convention People’s Party, All People’s Congress, Progressive People’s Party, Great Consolidated Popular Party, and the New Patriotic Party.
