Political scientist Professor Ransford Gyampo has urged Ghanaians to continue to make peace prevail as the country goes to the polls again come December 7, 2020, stressing that we shall have no better country to run to as refugees if the country implodes given that our neighbouring countries are poorer, and are faced with much more daunting challenges than Ghana.
For him, Ghana has more than what it takes to be peaceful and must strive to keep the peace the country is currently enjoying.
“I know a Judge who was selling by the streets of Buduburam simply because of the Liberian conflict that made him flea to Ghana as refugee.
Folks, our neighboring countries are poorer and have more problems than we have. We have more than what it takes to keep our peace,” he advised on social media.
Prof Gyampo, however, praised Ghanaians for being peaceful in the last seven times they have had general elections to elect presidents and parliamentarians, noting that even though the elections have been keenly competitive, Ghanaians made peace prevail.
“Ghana goes to the polls again for the eighth time since our fourth attempt at constitutional democracy. Our democratic maturity and electoral politics have defied assumptions that elections that tend to be keenly competitive degenerate into violence. Since 1992, every elections held in Ghana has been keenly competitive yet we haven’t fought.
The upcoming 2020 election promises to be keenly competitive. And this should in no way, lead to democratic relapse and violence,” he said as part of GHONE TV’s campaign to ensure peace before, during and after this year’s election, christened “democracy not war”.
Ghana has been praised has a model of democracy in the West Africa sub region for its peaceful elections and orderly transfer of power from one political party to the other. Notwithstanding, security analyst maintain that the potential for violence is ever-present and all must work to ensure that electoral violence does not erupt in the country.
Even though twelve presidential candidates have been cleared to contest for the presidency this year, the election remains a straight fight between the New Patriotic Party(NPP) and the National Democratic Congress(NDC).
