Unity Talks Underway (Front Page)

Sat, January 3, 2009

THERE are signs of a breakthrough in the current political stalemate following a resolve by the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to dialogue and work together to preserve and enhance the unity and prosperity of the nation.
Reading a statement on behalf of the Chairman of the Peace Council, His Eminence Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, the Most Reverend Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle, said the dialogue had become necessary because the results of both the presidential and parliamentary elections had shown the deep split in the country by partisan political passions and emotions.
He was addressing an emergency press conference to disseminate the outcome of consultations undertaken by Eminent Religious Leaders over the current state of the nation after the December 28, 2008 presidential run-off.
The eminent religious leaders were emphatic that separate meetings held with Professor J.E.A. Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had yielded some positive results.
The Most Rev Palmer-Buckle said it became necessary for the group, which is made up of Christian and Muslim leaders, to facilitate dialogue between the two parties because “there is a national emergency”.
He also pointed out that the religious leaders, together with civil society organisations grouped under the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI), had been working around the clock to foster constructive dialogue between the two presidential candidates who contested the run-off, together with their political parties, especially since December 29, 2009.
The Most Rev Palmer-Buckle hinted further that at the time of the press conference, Cardinal Turkson was having a meeting with Nana Akufo-Addo and expressed the hope that something positive would come out of that meeting.
Flanked by other senior members of the clergy and leaders of some civic society groups, the Archbishop said, “At no time in our post-independence history in the past 51 years has our national unity been pushed to the limits and under such enormous strain.”
He said if that emergent and dangerous trend was allowed to spiral out of control, it could destroy the country’s rich tradition of peace and national cohesion which many admired throughout the world.
“We must never allow this great tradition to be sacrificed for any political purpose whatever,” he stressed.
The eminent religious leaders took the opportunity to appeal to all Ghanaians to allow the Electoral Commission (EC) the time and space needed to complete its work and explained that the attitude of some political party activists of pressurising the commission to announce the results of elections held earlier was not the best.
The group also complained about some media reportage, especially what it termed as baseless information which was sent out by some FM stations during the past few days which it observed had the tendency to plunge the country into serious problems.
They, therefore, called on the authorities to find ways of preventing such a dangerous behaviour in future.
The religious leaders also appealed to all Ghanaians to remain calm, exercise tolerance and show love and kindness towards one another, as well as the commitment to promote further peace and stability in the country.
“No individual or group can win anything lasting using violence. We will lose if we allow violence to overcome our collective reasoning. Therefore, when it is all over, let us celebrate together the victory of our democracy and the unity of our nation. Ghana must be the winner,” they pointed out.