'DON'T ALLOW POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS TO DIVIDE US; (PAGE 15)

Story: Samuel Duodu, Sunyani

THE Executive Director of Peace and Violence-Free Advocacy Foundation International (PEVFAF), Mr Frank Opoku Adjapong, has said Ghanaians must not allow their political affiliations to divide them and create tension in the country.
He said politics was not about enemies and friends, but rather, it sought the welfare of the people and the socio-economic advancement of the nation.
He reminded Ghanaians to be guided by the experiences of other nations in Africa where conflicts had arisen as a result of elections to continue to safeguard the peace and stability of the country.
“We must, therefore, let our political persuasions guide us to make the right choices in the forthcoming elections that would result in an improvement in the living conditions of the ordinary Ghanaian”, he stressed.
Mr Adjapong was speaking at the 12th bi-annual conference of the Mid–West Ghana Adventist Choir Union (MIGACU) held at the Sunyani Jubilee Park in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The executive director noted that the organisation was not only for violence-free elections this year, but to ensure that violent acts were removed from the body politic, football, religious and ethnic matters.
He said no society would make progress when there was violence, chaos and confusion and, therefore, urged Ghanaians to embrace dialogue as a means of resolving their differences, rather than resorting to violence which had the potential to threaten the peace and stability of the nation.
Mr Adjapong also appealed to all factions engaged in land and chieftaincy disputes across the nation to resort to dialogue for the settlement of the dispute for peace to prevail for development to take place.
He urged Christians, Muslims, traditionalists and all other religious faithful to peacefully co-exist and pray for the peace and stability of the country as the nation goes to the polls in December, this year.
Mr Adjapong also appealed to political parties and their supporters to be circumspect in their utterances during their campaigns to avoid violence.
Mr Kwame Appiah Baah, also of the PEVFAF, called on all Ghanaians to get involved in the campaign for a peaceful and violence-free elections since there was no winner in any violent situation.