The National Peace Council has cautioned religious leaders against hate speeches that could potentially incite violence during the upcoming 2024 general elections in Ghana.
As the elections draw closer, there have been concerns about the need to preach peace and discourage acts that promote electoral violence.
Last year, Ghana lost its position on the Global Peace Index as the most peaceful country in West Africa to Sierra Leone and dropped from its second position in Africa to fourth.
This has fueled numerous calls by the National Peace Council and relevant stakeholders for everyone to uphold peace and work tirelessly to prevent electoral violence.
The Chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev. Dr. Ernest Adugyamfi, has called on ministers of God to preach peace and urged the public to desist from hate speeches and materials.
“Every minister of the gospel will understand that we have a responsibility to protect the peace, stability, and unity of our country. Whatever we do in this country, we must ensure that we maintain the peace, stability, and cohesion of our country.”
If 72% of us are Christians, then I expect that many of these will be the churches. Therefore, pastors have a responsibility through their pulpits to educate church members. Let’s avoid insults, let’s avoid tearing people down, let’s avoid those things that reduce people to nothingness.”
“And ensure that at the end of all this election, Ghana will be peaceful and intact.”
The President of the Baptist Ministers Conference, Rev. Dr. Charles Owusu Ampofo, emphasized the importance of discipline among religious leaders and their followers, especially during the election period.
During the opening of the Ghana Baptist Ministers’ Conference at Ejura, Rev. Ampofo stated, “Ministers of God must stay disciplined, and that should be translated into the lives of our flock, the church members. When the ministers themselves are disciplined, that must be expressed in the lives of the church members.”
He also addressed the church’s call for the president to assent to the anti-LGBTQ Bill, stating, “And also, you know, with our church and with Christians in general, the issue of LGBT and others is a very crucial thing to us. Not because we laugh at it. It’s because we detest it. We don’t want that. We are praying that this bill be signed.”
Adding her voice to the call for peace, guest speaker Mrs. Irene Naa Torshie Addo-Lartey, the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund, urged politicians, religious leaders, and the media to conduct themselves in a manner that preserves the country and does not fracture it.
“This year is a very, very important year. This year is an election year, a very critical time in our country and I think that pastors, men of God, politicians, and everybody, we must conduct ourselves in a way to preserve the country and not to divide it.”
