'LET'S PRESERVE PEACE' (p.43) 28-08-08

Story: Kofi Yeboah

THREE prominent chiefs in the Central and Western Regions have reminded politicians and all Ghanaians of their responsibility in preserving the integrity and peace of the country before, during and after the December election.
They cautioned the people to guard against complacency and jealously protect the peace, and urged them to let the common aspirations bind rather than divide the country.
The Omanhen of Oguaa Traditional Area in the Central Region, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, the Omanhene of Mpohor, Osabarima Kwaw Entsi II, and the chief of Essipun, Nana Kofi Abuna V, both from the Western Region, made the remark in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic.
The chiefs were at Elmina in the Central Region recently to attend a workshop on "Non-violence election in December 2008", organised by the National Peace Council (NPC).
Osabarima Kwesi Atta said Ghana was known throughout the world as a peaceful country and so Ghanaians must, in their own small ways contribute in keeping Ghana peaceful.
"I urge all Ghanaians, especially the followers of political parties, to be tolerant of each other. After all, Ghana was here before the parties came," he said.
Osabarima Kwesi Atta said traditional leaders would be proactive in responding to early warning signals before, during and after the December election with the aim of maintaining the peace.
For his part, Osabarima Kwaw Entsi reminded Ghanaians that "the only country that we have is Ghana", adding that nothing could change the people from being Ghanaians, so they had a responsibility to maintain peace.
"I’m the Omanhene of Mpohor Traditional Area. If we don’t take care and chaos breaks out after the election, I cannot become an Omanhene in Nigeria or Cote d’Ivoire. So let us all maintain peace," he said.
Osabarima Kwaw Entsi said Ghana’s neighbours were all bedevilled with conflicts so in the event of a conflict breaking out in the country, Ghanaians would not have anywhere to go except the Gulf of Guinea.
"But that will not help us. Who can go and stay in the sea? Nobody can go there. So all of us should come together and strive for peace, because in peace we can develop and achieve our national vision," he advised.
Nana Kofi Abuna, the female chief of Essipun, pleaded with Ghanaians to embrace the peace message so that the country would continue to stand on its feet.
"We should not take the peace we have for granted and do something that would cause us dearly. We should make sure whatever we do, we think of Ghana first, because apart from Ghana, we don’t have anywhere to go. We have to sustain this peace and live as one people," she said.
Commenting on the outcome of the NPC workshop, a research officer at the NPC, Mr Emmanuel Sowatey, said it was successful in many respects, such as the reinforcement of the council’s notion of harnessing every resource for conflict prevention, management and resolution.
He said the commitment expressed by the traditional leaders, the clergy, senior security officials and media practitioners who attended the programme, to use their influence to promote peace, underlined the impact that the workshop was expected to have on the promotion of peace.
Mr Sowatey urged individuals who owned guns to endeavour to register their weapons to ensure that the use of small arms were controlled in a manner that would not harm the peace in the country.