The National Peace Council (NPC) is developing mechanisms for an effective mediation process between the New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other political parties on the disbandment of vigilante groups.
The Executive Secretary of the NPC, Mr George Amoh, told the Daily Graphic that the council was currently developing the “terms of engagements” to guide the process.
He said the terms and every decision taken by the NPC would first be discussed with the parties for validation before the meeting could proceed.
The interview was to find out how the Peace Council was proceeding with requests by both the NPP and the NDC that it mediated in the process to disband vigilante groups
NDC makes request
Delivering the State of the Nation Address last month at the Parliament House, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo called on the leadership of the NPP and NDC to come together and agree on the appropriate measures needed to salvage the nation from the phenomenon of vigilantism.
After the President’s call, the National Chairman of the NDC, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, in a letter agreed with the President in principle and said the party would avail itself to an invitation by the President for that purpose.
In the letter, Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said due to mistrust and suspicion among political parties, a body such as the NPC would be appropriate to facilitate the process.
He further proposed in the letter that the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Institute for Democratic Governance ( IDEG) joined the NPC to facilitate the process.
The NPC welcomed the call, saying it was within their mandate to facilitate such dialogues to ensure that there was peace in the country.
The NPC, therefore, wrote a letter to the NPP expressing its interest in mediating the dialogue.
NPP accepts
In a letter by the General Secretary of the NPP, Mr John Boadu to the NPC, he said the NPP initially wanted the NPP and NDC to first meet and agree on the modalities for these engagements before involving any other stakeholder as suggested by the NDC.
Nonetheless, he said attempts to meet with the NDC proved futile as they never got back to the NPP for the day or venue for the meeting.
In the stead, he said the NDC wrote back to the NPP notifying them that they (NDC) had gone ahead and requested the NPC to assume the role of a moderator in the deliberations and to decide on a date and venue for same.
“Whilst this appears to be inconsistent with our request, the NPP is nonetheless willing to make the necessary compromise in relation to the party’s initial position on the matter and accordingly avail itself for your direction”, he stated.
Green light given
The NPC, therefore, wrote a letter to the NDC to inform them about the green light given by the NPP for the NPC to moderate in the engagements, saying “the chairman wants to assure you that the NPC would follow up with a schedule for the planned engagements in our earliest convenience”.
“We need to get the structures in place before we start the procedure and that is what we are doing now”, Mr Amoh said.
Source: Graphic.com.gh
