The Bono Regional Peace Council yesterday held a peace dialogue with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), as well as other stakeholders in an effort to ensure peace during and after the December polls.
According to the Regional Peace Council there was the need for a common ground in addressing recurring violence that erupted between the NPP and NDC in the just ended voter’s registration exercise in parts of the Bono Region before the December elections.
Speaking with the Ghanaian Times in Sunyani, the Secretary of the Bono Regional Peace Council, Suallah Abdallah Quandah, said his outfit was determined to ensure that the December general election would be devoid of violence in order to maintain the peace and stability in the region.
He said the Peace Council was addressing the violent incidents that characterised the EC’s registration exercise at Banda and Nkrankwanta in the Dormaa West Districts and other notable hotspots in the region.
Mr Quandah said the leadership of the various political parties are being engaged at different levels to smoke the peace pipe to calm down tension ahead of the December general election explaining that, “We are educating the general public especially the indigenes of the two districts on vigilantism and other related offenses for peace to be maintained.
“The violence that were recorded in the two districts; (Banda and Nkrankwanta) of the Bono region during the voters registration marked them as flashpoints for the upcoming polls,” he stressed.
“It appears violence has become a norm in the country every election year. There is always tension in some parts of the country with some even losing their lives as a result of election conflict,” he said.
Mr Quandah attributed the cause of electoral violence in the country to non-adherence to electoral regulations adding that the December 7 general elections should not be an exception from previous elections.
FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH, SUNYANI
