LAST Sunday thousands of Ghanaians across the political and religious divide attended a special service to render their deep appreciation to God Almighty for His bountiful blessings to the nation so far.
The service, which was attended by President J.A. Kufuor, as well as political leaders such as Professor John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Mr Dan Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), was also intended to ask God for His intervention for a peaceful general election in December.
The service, organised jointly by the Catholic Bishops Conference, the Ghana Pentecostal Council, the Association of Independent Churches and the Christian Council of Ghana, in response to a request by the President to them to join the nation in prayer to God for peaceful elections, was a step in the right direction.
For the Christian community to express gratitude to God, on behalf of the whole country, was a statement of the nation’s belief in God and a recognition of His influence in its affairs.
We have every cause to be thankful to God, since we have experienced His blessings in all facets of our lives as a nation and as individuals. It is instructive to recall the Jubilee Year celebrations in 2007, the challenges of the energy crisis and the consequences on the economy, rising fuel and food prices and the upsurge in ethnic conflicts.
Today, the water level of the Akosombo Dam has risen above 260 ft level, the looming conflicts that threatened the security of the nation have subsided and, above all, oil in commercial quantities has been discovered.
At a time when almost everything is going well for the nation, we need to be careful so that the December 7 general election does not degenerate into violence. A careful study of events in some parts of Africa can reveal that some of the conflicts there which have had catastrophic consequences came about as a result of the conduct of elections, which often had been regarded as not fair and transparent.
It is for this reason that the Daily Graphic has cause to add its voice to calls already made by different interest groups and individuals to political parties, their leaders and their followers, the media, the Electoral Commission (EC), as well as other stakeholders in the electoral process, to conduct their affairs responsibly to ensure free, fair, transparent and violence-free elections so that at the end of the exercise no political party or individual will have any reason to doubt the integrity of the results.
Ghanaians should rather be tolerant and open to divergent views and do away with narrow-mindedness and exclusivism, ethnic and religious hatred, family feud and communal conflicts.
For elections are not about war, nor are they life-or-death issues. In every election year, political parties present their programmes to the electorate for them to vote for the parties and candidates who, in their view, can best represent their interest and aspirations. Such an electioneering should not be made to degenerate into violence, personal attacks, insults and name calling.
Ghana’s democratic experience has become an international showpiece because of the way we have managed our governance system. All eyes are on us and we cannot disappoint the international community, which is already encouraging us to make the elections yet another landmark in our strides to achieve prosperity.
Religious and political leaders have shown the way and we expect all Ghanaians to walk the talk by demonstrating their belief in peace, a prerequisite for development.
It will be a tragedy if, after all the sermonising, supporters of political parties exhibit behaviours that will compromise the conduct of the polls on December 7. After all, example is better than precept.
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