The Executive Director of Salt and Light Ministries has cautioned political party agents against using polling stations as a place to incite violence during the general elections.
Reverend Dr. Joyce Rosalind Aryee said the peace of the nation would be preserved when politicians and their representatives become tolerant of their opponents.
“Polling stations are not battlegrounds,” she said, adding, it is rather the responsibility of political party agents to ensure that the ballots are not tampered with during counting.
The celebrated clergywoman made these remarks to Joynews when she gave her peace message to Ghanaians ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections.
Ghanaians have less than 12 days to head to the general election which has been described by some political pundits as the make or break of the nation’s elections.
It would be the nation’s seventh election after the introduction of democracy.
President John Mahama of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) is seeking re-election after having served his two terms of four years as a Vice President and President after the demise of former President John Evans Atta-Mills.
He would be facing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo whom he contested in the 2012 general election.
There have been some misunderstanding and scuffle between the NDC and NPP leading to the injury of scores of their supporters. The first happened in an area close to Mr Akufo-Addo’s Nima residence.
The second incident took place in an Eastern Regional town of Asokore when supporters of the two parties who were on a keep fit exercise clashed.
Sections of Ghanaians and the international community especially the United States (U.S) and United Kingdom (U.K) have expressed grave concerns about the clashes.
The U.S and U.K have said they would deny visas to political party agents who would foment violence in the country.
Rev. Dr Aryee said it is important for Ghanaians especially political party agents to learn to be good citizens of the country by allowing the Electoral Commission (EC) to operate without unnecessary interference.
“A good citizen respects other people’s views. You will not like the views of the opposing party, but would recognize that it is their right to say what they want to say,” she said.
“Those who are casting our votes, we don’t need to be so emotional as to want to start a fight because somebody did something which is not allowed. That’s why the police are there. Don’t go there spoiling for a fight,” Rev. Aryee said explicitly.
Rev. Dr Aryee reminded Ghanaians that what count at the end of the election are their lives and that of the country. “You want the life of everybody in the country and that’s why you’ll be a good citizen.”
Source: myjoyonline
