Sheikh Aremeyaw Shuaib, Spokesperson for the National Chief Imam, has called on faith based organisation to intensify efforts to fight against the dangerous phenomenon of vigilantism in Ghana.
He expressed worry about the growing trend of the incident and challenged well-meaning Ghanaians to join the fight and nib the phenomenon in the bud in order to safeguard the security and peace of the country, before, during and after the 2020 general elections.
The Sheikh said these during the launch of the project by the Forum for Actions on Inclusion, Transparency and Harmony (FAITH) in Ghana Alliance on ETHICS against Vigilantism in Accra last Friday.
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“As a nation we can engage in politics without resorting to violence,” he noted, and reiterated the commitment of the member institutions of interfaith Alliance, to work together with stakeholders to address the dangerous phenomenon of vigilantism, which threatens to compromise Ghana’s democratic gains.
Presenting the project framework to engage in 2020, Mr. Samuel ZanAkologo, Executive Secretary of Caritas Ghana and Coordinator of the FAITH in Ghana Alliance, Educating, Training and Healing Individuals, Community and Society (ETHICS) Against Vigilantism is to work together to sanitize our political parties of vigilantism act.
He said theproject demonstrate the commitment of faith-based organisations in Ghana to promote their fraternal solidarity cooperation for the wellbeing of the citizens and contribute towards addressing the vigilantism in the country.
The Coordinator said FAITH Alliance will work with the National Peace Council and Electoral Commissionto pursue the agenda of denouncing political vigilantism and enhance credibility and inclusiveness in the electoral processes.
Besides partnering with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to broaden outreach in civic and voter education, Mr. Akologo said they will collaborate with the National Youth Authority to mobilise vulnerable unemployed youth to offer them decent job opportunities in the “cash for work” initiative in the six project areas.
“As faith-based organisations, we think that the way our young people are used by some political parties and individual politicians is quite disgraceful and demeaning” he stressed.
He observed that the participation of young people, women and vulnerable groups in Ghana’s electoral processes is very critical to broadening our democracy in a participatory manner, the project will intervene by educating, training and healing the youth against these undignified practices and abuses.
The project will also focus on women and vulnerable persons to feel safe to participate in the electoral processes as well as promote dialogue between Religious women’s groups and the electoral commission on how women’s inclusion can be enhanced in 2020 electoral processes.
Mr. David Issaka, Head Programmes, Caritas Ghana, expatiating on the ETHICS project said the project goal is to improved peace and security in election value chain and elimination of excessive conducts by politically sponsored groups.
He said the project will focus on two thematic areas including vigilantism and election related violence as well as inclusion and active participation of women and the vulnerable in the elections.
*Sheikh AremeyawShuaibflanked by dignitaries during the launch.
By Kwesi YirenkyiBoateng
