The group’s President, Sarah Ajara Musah, in a statement copied Citifmonline.com, said the situation required that security agencies should up their game to ensure violence free elections on December 7.

[contextly_sidebar id=”VPneHBXUGKNJDMY7iBm7JSisCfPylakv”]She emphasized the need for all stakeholders in the political landscape to use dialogue as the panacea to settle their scores ahead of the polls.

Below is the statement

Our friends from the media, welcome and thank you for your response to our call. We have called you here today because we see you as partners and also know the power of the media in ensuring peaceful elections.

As some of you may be aware, we are a group of women traders in the Northern Ghana who are very much concerned about the peace of this country.

For us as women, the humiliating circumstances and the pain women, children, the aged and persons living with disabilities go through during times of war are not something we even wish for our enemies not to dream of experiencing it for any cause.

That is why we have strongly campaigned for peaceful elections this year.

We have done so through peace marches and presented our concerns to some of our respected chiefs to keep reminding politicians of the need to protect the prevailing peace and also advise the youth to avoid tendencies that can trigger violent conflicts.

Recent media reports on political clashes especially between the NPP and NDC supporters give us a cause to worry.

The clashes between supporters of the NPP and NDC in the Odododiodio Constituency which left scores of supporters injured and hospitalized, the unfortunate incident near Nima residence of the NPP Presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the political conflict at Nakpayili and Tinangeria both communities in the Wulensi Constituency and the clash at Tampion in the Nanton Constituency, to mention but a few, are not good signs and such ugly incidences must be condemned.

We therefore call on the security agencies especially the Ghana Police Service to beef up security and increase their visibility in the communities from now till the political tension completely subsides after the elections.

They should also do their professional work without fear or favour to protect lives, properties and the peace.

We also entreat the security agencies to resource their intelligence operatives to enable them pick up signals that could help prevent the pockets of conflicts surfacing few days to the elections.

We also urge our religious leaders to include in their sermons, peace messages and stress the importance of dialogue, love, tolerance, forgiveness and abiding by the laws of the land, which are necessary ingredients for ensuring peace.

We are pleading with the pastors who are fond of predicting the outcome of the election to try and keep their visions to themselves and stop creating fear and panic among Ghanaians.

Enough of the predictions, that practice is heightening unnecessary political tension.

Friends from the media, we have observed that violence can be highly infectious and can spread across the whole country within a twinkle of an eye especially when it fueled by partisan politics and particularly in areas where there are already burning chieftaincy issues.

We can’t take the relative peace we have in the north and Ghana at large for granted.

The war torn countries in Africa have ever tasted peace that is why we can’t be complacent in our case.

Northern Women for Peace will soon knock at the doors of the various radio stations in Tamale to intensify our peace campaign as the Election Day draws closer.

We believe peace is a very necessary ingredient and a precondition for development in every nation. There is no point, therefore, allowing elections to destroy the very ingredient needed for the development of mother Ghana.

Thank you.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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