GIVE PEACE A CHANCE (FEB 6)

THE violent clashes among sections of residents of Agbogbloshie in Accra call for urgent action to protect lives and property. The conflict, believed to have chieftaincy and political undertones, does not augur well for the peaceful co-existence of the people of the area.
Agbogbloshie, until recently, became notorious for blocking work on the Korle Lagoon Restoration Project into which donors had sunk millions of dollars. The area, which is also noted for brisk business in all kinds of merchandise, witnessed skirmishes leading to loss of lives, limbs and property before, during and after the December 2008 elections.
The problem has reached a stage where law-abiding citizens in society must wake up and call those bent on creating chaos in the area to order. The security agencies and, indeed, the government have an obligation particularly to people in the area who want a sound environment in order to carry on with their daily endeavours.
It is refreshing, however, that the Mills administration and the Ghana Police Service have decided to combat crime of all kinds. The acting Inspector-General of Police, Mrs Mills-Robertson, said in Accra on Wednesday that “the adage that prevention is better than cure can be better appreciated when, as police officers, we visualise the repercussions of crime. Crimes such as armed robbery and murder have life-long traumatic effects on their victims”.
Dr Kwesi Aning of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre KAIPTC) in Accra has also called on the two leading political parties in the country, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to jointly create a platform that will allow factions in the Agbogbloshie conflict to let out their grievances for resolution.
It is difficult to attribute the root cause of the conflict to only politics, since sometimes chieftaincy conflicts also rear their ugly heads. Looking at the dimensions of the conflict from December 2008 till now, it will be difficult to rule out political undertones from it. That is why the DAILY GRAPHIC endorses the call on the two major political parties to intervene in the matter in order to find an amicable settlement.
The elections are over and it is about time all Ghanaians buried their political differences to forge unity to join the Mills administration “to hit the ground running”.
The DAILY GRAPHIC has, time and again, reminded Ghanaians that in as far as all of us endorsed the multi-party system of government in 1992, there are bound to be differences. Multi-party democracy is about choices, but the differences in our beliefs must not be allowed to cloud our judgements. Rather, they should be the basis for our partnership in society.
We have a lot of strength in our unity and diversity which we must explore for the good of society, instead of allowing our differences to frustrate our forward march. Our common enemy is poverty and we call for a concerted action to break the back of poverty.
The DAILY GRAPHIC appeals to residents of Agbogbloshie to bury the hatchet in order to give peace a chance so that they can go about their daily activities without let or hindrance. The security agencies should also intensify their crime prevention activities in the area and prosecute those who have breached the law to avoid the situation where the culture of impunity will be allowed to reign over law and order.