THE Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre Oti Boateng, has called on all presidential aspirants and their running mates to always preach a message of peace and unity, which is a prerequisite for peaceful elections in the country.
"We must openly declare our stance for peace and also tell Ghanaians, as a matter of urgency, that we are not for violence, but rather for peace," he stated.
The Omanhene, who made the appeal when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) running mate, Mr John Dramani Mahama, called on him at his palace, stated that "without peace we cannot expect to have a peaceful election in December".
"We must, therefore, encourage our party supporters to understand that we are one people with a common destiny, irrespective of our political affiliations," Daasebre Oti Boateng stated.
Mr Mahama was accompanied by some of the executives of his party, including its Eastern Regional Chairman, Mr Julius Debrah, and his secretary, Anthony Gyampo.
According to the Omanhene, since the preaching of peace and unity was at the heart of democracy, every political party, particularly their flag bearers and running mates, should endeavour to preach peace to the people.
This, he said, would enable the masses to appreciate that in spite of their different political leanings, they were all Ghanaians within one country.
Daasebre Oti Boateng was also of the opinion that since elections were associated with either winning or losing, political parties must learn to appreciate the outcome of elections.
"Whatever will happen in this year’s elections, only one political party will emerge victorious. Hence, we must learn to accept defeat or otherwise to sustain the peace and the unity we are currently enjoying as a nation," he explained.
"We must, therefore, start to undertake a campaign of peace, based on issues and not of personal attacks," the Omanhene added.
Explaining the roles chiefs would play to ensure the conduct of peaceful elections, the Omanhene appealed to chiefs to preach peace and tranquility to their people in their respective traditional areas.
"By this, we as chiefs will be able to assist in the attainment of fair and transparent electoral processes, prior to the December elections," he stressed.
To boost the confidence of the people in the outcome of this year’s elections, the Omanhene called on those who had been pointing accusing fingers at the Electoral Commission and calling for the resignation of its chairman to desist from such behaviour.
"We should rather help to correct the shortcomings associated with electoral malpractices to ensure free and fair elections," he pointed out, adding "we are all duty-bound to be vigilant to avoid any future recurrence".
For his part, Mr Mahama reiterated the need for Ghanaians to refrain from violent acts, saying "we must tolerate each other’s views, regardless of our political leanings".
To this end, the soft-spoken running mate pledged the preparedness of his party to centre its campaign messages around peace, as being done by its flag bearer, Prof. John Atta Mills.
"I will want to appeal to our supporters to also refrain from engaging in violent behaviour and accommodate other people’s views as well," Mr Mahama added.
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