CONFLICTS IN PARLIAMENTARY PRIMARIES WORRYING (PAGE 14)

PEACE and Violence-Free Advocacy Foundation International (PAVFAF), a Sunyani-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), has expressed concern about the conflicts associated with parliamentary primaries across the country.
The foundation has, therefore, called on the various political parties to find an antidote to the phenomenon, which has the potential of destroying the beauty of the country’s democracy.
Three officials of the foundation, Messrs Frank Opoku Adjapong, Edem Quao Yewoenao and Baba Gausu, expressed the sentiments in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Sunyani.
The foundation described the trend as a disturbing spectacle, which, if not checked, would undermine the country’s peace and democratic credential.
According to it, one of the ways through which the various political parties could stem primary-related violence was to allow all card-bearing members to vote to select parliamentary candidates.
That, it observed, would make it difficult for people vying for parliamentary slots of the various parties to influence delegates including camping them at a particular place prior to the primaries.
The officials of PAVFAF said if all card-bearing members were allowed to vote, it would make it practically impossible to influence them.
“If we are not careful, little things would endanger the democracy of the country and destroy the relative peace we are enjoying,” they stressed.
They stated that the political quagmire in Cote d’Ivoire was as a result of inaction by the various political actors in that country.
Touching on conflicts in the country, Messrs Adjapong, Yewoenao and Gausu called on what they termed ‘the big men’ to stop buying arms and ammunition to factions involved in conflicts.
They expressed regret that many of ‘the big men’ talked peace but the message was not from their heart, adding that peace was a priceless commodity which could not be bought with money.
The PAVFAF officials appealed to the people of Bawku and Buipe, as well as other parts of the country where there were conflicts, to give peace a chance.
They also stressed the need for school authorities to impress on the youth not to allow themselves to be used by troublemakers.
On the Zimbabwean political crisis, the three men urged African leaders to be proactive in resolving the conflict before it degenerated into war.