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President Nana Akufo-Addo has called on politicians and the entire nation to end violence in the country.

Addressing the nation today (Thursday) before Parliament, the President made a passionate appeal to both the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) not to entertain political violence but set up a meeting to voluntarily disband vigilante groups who have become the bane of the nation.

He denounced the recent violent attacks at the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election and during a high-profile meeting between the National and Regional executives of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The President condemned the actions by the vigilante groups and urged Ghanaians not to take delight in violence.

"The time has come to put an end to the phenomenon of politically related violence. The only way in our system to begin to deal with such a situation is through the work of a Commission of Inquiry. Thankfully, I got four responsible Ghanaians of independent spirit who agreed to serve on the Commission. I hope the findings and recommendations of the Emile Short Commission will enable us chart a path to ending politically related violence in our country."

According to the President, if the political parties fail to disband the vigilante groups, he will intervene by instituting a legislation to make the disbandment possible.

"We must not take our peace and security for granted, not for a moment. Our children and grandchildren will not forgive us if we were to compromise our peace and stability. I will not permit that to happen under my watch. Our forbearers paid too high a price with their blood and toil to bequeath to us this beautiful nation...the lives of our citizens are too precious to waste," he stated categorically.

He charged the leaders of the two main political parties to “come together as soon as possible, preferably, next week; to agree on appropriate measures to bring an end to this worrying and unacceptable phenomenon of vigilantism in our body politic. Mr. Speaker, I have asked the leadership of the NPP to extend an invitation to the leadership of the NDC for such a meeting. The security services of the country will be on standby to assist this meeting. If voluntary disbandment by the parties is not feasible, then I will initiate legislation in the matter”.

“Vigorous debate and the exchange of ideas should be the true basis of political dialogue and competition in our country, not the activities of party vigilante groups. Mr. Speaker, what was tolerated over the years cannot and must not be accepted anymore,” he added.