JOINT COMMUNIQUE ON PEACEFUL ELECTIONS BY THE BRANCHES OF NDC AND NPP In Norway

17TH NOVEMBER, 2012



We, the branches of NDC and NPP in Norway met and deliberated on the theme – Peace in Ghana before, during and after elections on Saturday, the 17th of November in Oslo. We agreed that Ghanaians cannot afford to compromise on the peace we are enjoying under our democratic dispensation and that all stakeholders in this year’s election have a duty to ensure that peace prevail before, during and after the elections in Ghana. It is worthy to draw the attention of Ghanaians to what Honourable Kofi Annan said during the Kenyan crisis, “You never know the value of peace until you lose it”. Peace can be taken for granted, but when we lose it, we see how expensive it is. To maintain peace before, during and after elections, we jointly put across following views in a joint communiqué, to the government, all political parties and fellow Ghanaians:

1. We demand that the press shows restraint in its reporting of news items. Though they are doing a good job, they should exhibit circumspection and responsible reporting, observing rigorously their journalistic code of ethics. The Media Commission needs to be more vigorous in its surveillance of the press.



2. We call on all Ghanaians to exhibit self-restraint in the face of provocation. They shouldn’t take the law into their own hands, but use our law enforcing institutions. The image of Ghana as a beacon of democracy in Africa should be our hallmark.



3. As a nation of laws, we must punish the lawless, regardless party affiliation or ethnicity.



4. Our politicians need to be mindful of choice and use of words, since their followers look up to them as heroes and their words do shape the actions of the electorate; knowing very well that words carry power and interpretations of words may vary from person to person.



5. We should remember we are still one Ghana, one people, one nation regardless our party affiliations. National patriotism should therefore be our unifying factor that cuts across the political divide.



6. We call upon our President, His Excellency John Mahama to officially invite the Press, the Electoral Commissioner and Leaders of all Political Parties for a dialogue on peaceful elections before the 7th of December, to underscore how paramount peace is before, during and after elections. We believe that getting all the stakeholders on the same platform to attest their commitment to PEACEFUL ELECTIONS will send a strong signal the whole nation.



7. We call on all Ghanaians in the diaspora to add their voices to ours.







Tete Kobla Agbota

Chairman NDC-Norway

Desmond Boakye Frimpong

for Chairman NPP-Norway