A former Vice-President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, The Netherlands, Professor Akua Kuenyehia, has advised Ghanaians to work at ensuring that the country comes out of this year’s general election devoid of violence.
“This is an election year and the mantra is ‘Peace, Peace, Peace’. We should avoid election violence; we should avoid anything that will disturb the peace of this country,” she said, and added that peace was a major factor that determined a country’s economic growth.
Prof. Kuenyehia was delivering the maiden lecture on Peace, titled, “The quest for peace in Ghana and Africa,” organised by the Rotary Club of Accra West, in collaboration with the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG).
She identified respect as a major basic requirement for peace and urged Ghanaians to respect one another as individuals and also respect authority. She also pointed out that freedom of speech was not absolute and not a licence for loose talk.
Prof. Kuenyehia, therefore, advised Ghanaians to minimise utterances and actions that have the propensity to cause electoral violence before, during and after this year’s general election.
She called for free flow of information, which she indicated, was critical in creating a peaceful environment for sustainable development.
Prof. Kuenyehia also identified effective government as a basic requirement for sustainable development and explained that “an effective government is nurtured by the quality of public service, civil services, the credibility of the government’s commitment to policies and the level of trust the government must enjoy to deliver on policy and promise”.
She expressed concern over the level of petty corruption at even the lowest level where people had to be given money before they rendered services they were already paid to do.
Touching on the equitable distribution of resources, Prof. Kuenyehia called for a relook at how resources were distributed and said the unequal distribution of resources was a recipe for instability.
The President of the Rotary Club of Accra West, Rotarian Amos Amankwah, underscored the importance of sustainable peace as the cornerstone of national development.
The Executive Director of IDEG, Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, who chaired the function, noted that there was no strong political dialogue in the country and, therefore, no mechanism whatsoever that could compel all to sit at table to discuss issues of national concern.
He stressed that there was a lot of international interest in this year’s general election and added that the future of the country was dependent on the elections.
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