Security analyst Dr. Adams Bona has called on the National Peace Council, the Christian Council, the Pentecostal Council, the National Chief Imam, and other religious leaders to urge political leaders to pledge to violent free elections.
Dr. Bona underscored the need for these bodies to interact with the various political parties and their leaders, particularly the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Party (NDC), and the need for them to avoid utterances that can incite their followers to engage in acts of violence before, during, and after the elections.
He stated that reckless commentary that has the potential to undermine the security and credibility of the elections should not be entertained.
He has therefore appealed to the bodies he mentioned to call all political leaders to order ahead of the elections.
He was speaking in reference to recent comments made by Bryan Achemapong to the effect that the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) will do all it takes to retain power.
He opined that comments have the potential to undermine the integrity, credibility, and security of the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.
He said that although the Minister of Agriculture may not personally engage in violent means or an attempt to rig the elections in favour of the NPP, party supporters will treat his comments as a call on them to use machinations to rig the elections.
Dr. Bona commented on it, saying the comments from the minister were unfortunate, highlighting the need for political leaders to avoid these commentaries.
He said the will of the people cannot be overturned, and all aspirants and their political leaders must be prepared to accept the outcome of the elections.
He noted that if voters decide on a candidate, there is nothing anyone can do to change the choice of the people.
‘’The NPP as a party has not planned to use machinations in the upcoming elections, but the comments by Bryan Acheampong, which he has repeated on three occasions, could influence some party members to use any means possible to retain power at all costs, including rigging. But if the leadership of the party stresses the need for credible, transparent, free, and fair processes and declares their preparedness to hand them over, then their supporters would also be influenced by that.’’
‘’That is why I call on the National Peace Council, the National Chief Imam, the Christian Council, the Pentecostal Council, and the rest to intervene and admonish the politicians from all sides to be circumspect in their political commentary and avoid comments that influence people negatively, just like we saw in Rwanda. So for me, we need to be very careful and circumspect with regards to what we are saying and doing from now until the elections and after the elections.’’
Meanwhile, Bryan Acheampong says his comments have been misconstrued.
According to him, the comments were not about violence, but rather about the strategies they planned to use in the elections.
He added that the NDC was also deploying strategies aimed at winning the elections, but the ones being deployed by the NPP were superior.
‘The New Patriotic Party is a political party. The NDC is also a political party, and they are employing every possible strategy to win the elections. We, as a party, are also employing every available strategy to win the elections. So, if someone says the party will utilise every strategy available to us and win, can it be misinterpreted as anything other than employing our strategy to win the elections?’, he remarked in an interview on ‘Ekosoisen’ on Asempa FM.
He added that “when someone tells you in Akan to go and burn the sea, it is not something dangerous. It is something we have been saying all the time. So if you interpret it in English in a different way, that is not what I said, and that is not what it meant. I repeat, due to what we have done or achieved as a government, our campaign strategy, the parliamentary candidates we have, and our presidential candidate, I am optimistic that we will win the 2024 general elections.
The NDC has conducted a research, and the findings show that the NPP will win the elections. Elections are won at the polling stations. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the NDC’s chairman, has consistently told us that elections are won at the polling stations. We have 39,000 polling stations, and our hope is that every voter going to vote will vote for the NPP because of the work we have done in communities, constituencies, and aggregate nationwide. The voters will evaluate or assess our performance and vote for us. We are confident that our performance sector by sector surpasses that of every government, including the NDC. So notwithstanding the challenges confronting us, if someone is going to vote today and the person is the NPP or a sympathiser of the NPP, that person will vote for us.
The NDC is aware of the various areas where the NPP will win, and the NPP is also aware of the areas where we know the NDC will win. There are only a few locations that both parties are aware will go in favour of either of the two parties, and they are not more than four constituencies.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
