The Rotary Club of Tema has marked its peace and conflict resolution month with a call for understanding and consideration of divergent views in political discourses in the country.
This stemmed from lack of mutual understanding of issues by political opponents and mistrust has given rise to adversarial divide on pertinent national issues among political parties.
Associate Executive Director of African Security Dialogue and Research, Major General Nii Carl Coleman (rtd), speaking at the peace and conflict prevention and resolution lecture and dinner on Thursday, cited the compilation of the new voters’ register for instance, a compromise would be reached and solution found to any other contentious national issues if each others’ views were respected, considered and understood mainly through dialogue.
“Peace should be pre-eminent and the guiding principle in all political activities and communications over the ambitious quest for power and the opportunity to govern, though the nation’s democracy remained incomplete without diversity, divergent ideas, opinions, decorum and sense of responsibility to defuse the seeming tensions that characterised elections.
“One comment can turn the tide and when one person is also so entrenched in his views then there will be a derailment of the entire process, the nation has been put to the test in her democratic credentials and the coming elections will be a testimony of the previous ones,” Maj-Gen (rtd) Coleman cautioned.
The President of Tema Rotary Club, Benjamin Kwao, indicated that peace, conflict prevention and resolution were core focus areas of Rotary International which did not accept as normal, conflicts in any form where mostly civilians and children are disadvantaged and misplaced hence the need for conscientisation of political leaders and communicators as well as religious and ethnic leaders on the importance of peace, stability and unity in the country.
“While admonishing the top hierarchy, members of the community who were mostly used to perpetrate violence, were also pervaded with training projects that foster understanding and provide the community with skills of conflict prevention and resolution.
“Through the service projects and peace fellowships, Rotary is taking action in addressing the fundamental causes of conflicts such as political and ethnic tensions, inequalities, uneven distribution of resources, lack of education and poverty,” Mr Kwao stressed.
FROM KEN AFEDZI, TEMA
