THREE organisations yesterday made clear statements calling on all Ghanaians to show their commitment to promoting violence-free elections on December 7, this year.
At the launch of the “Clean Election Campaign in Ghana 2008”, the three organisations — the Methodist Church, Initiatives of Change/Moral Re-Armanent (MRA)-Ghana, and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) — called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to join them in the crusade for free and fair elections.
It is heart-warming that other speakers at the forum registered their disdain for any act that will reverse the clock of progress in the country, particularly rejecting any power-sharing deal after the December elections.
Speaking at the launch, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, the Most Rev Dr Robert Aboagye-Mensah, said Ghana had advanced in multi-party democracy and gone beyond the situation that called for power sharing after elections and “cannot afford to use this backward system of power sharing” to promote democratic rule.
He described the phenomenon as an unpopular system for nations in crisis and that Ghana and its present democratic state were nowhere near such a system.
The Daily Graphic shares the sentiments expressed by the speakers at the launch of the campaign on the theme, “Win honourably, lose graciously”.
For some time now students of politics and some politicians have described the December 7 polls as a do-or-die affair or a champion-of-champions event. Whatever the label we give the forthcoming elections, it is still a democratic contest of ideas during which the various contestants stake a claim for the leadership of the country.
It is an opportunity for Ghanaians to make a choice from among the political parties seeking to govern the country, not a fight, for which reason the electioneering should not degenerate into violence.
This is why at this crucial moment of our preparation for the elections, Ghanaians should affirm our confidence in the ballot box as the best means to change a government or renew its mandate.
At the end of the day, what Ghanaians yearn for are freedom, peace, development and justice, not just the struggle for power. Anybody who wins power through violence or nasty clashes among political opponents risks having an “empty country” to govern.
It is unfortunate that sometimes, out of ambition or misguidedness to govern, politicians do things that retard our progress.
We believe that for public opinion to have an impact, it must be reinforced regularly and forcefully.
For this reason, the Daily Graphic encourages other initiatives, such as peace marches, prayer sessions and town hall meetings, as part of the strategies to educate the electorate on their rights and responsibilities.
Anybody who stays on the fence or decides not to join in the campaigns will be so conspicuously silent that he or she will be seen as working against the tenets of democracy.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, calls on all political parties to make loud proclamations and commitments towards free and fair elections by filling the pledge forms designed by the three organisations spearheading the campaign for free and fair polls in December. They should also encourage their supporters, families and the members of the public to also pledge their commitment towards the initiative.
This is the only country we have. Therefore, we all have a duty to ensure peace and stability to guarantee the country’s development and prosperity. If we allow the country to go to ruins, we will suffer the pains of enduring the hardships of a failed state.
But if the elections proceed peacefully and the outcome is accepted by all the parties, we would have discharged our civic responsibilities for the good of ourselves, our nation and to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment