The National Peace Council says the police must do more to protect lives and property.
This follows the violent clashes at Odododiodio in the Greater Accra Region between supporters of the New Patriotic Party, NPP and the National Democratic Congress, NDC.
The Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council George Amoh made the call on the Sunrise Morning Show on 3FM.
He said “What we must do as a people is to ensure that our institutions are resilient enough to contain anything that will come up. I think we have come of age; we have the capacity to do that. I will have to encourage our police service to do more, particularly by arresting people who indulged in activities such as what happened over the weekend, but also to update the country on progress of investigations I think these are critical”.
The Peace Council also had a word for the judiciary “ I want to encourage the Judges also because this matter will come to them; when it comes to them they will do this country the service by ensuring there is speedy trial and ensuring that those found culpable are not spared but dealt with, with the severity that the law requires. These would serve as deterrent”.
The National Peace Council has come under attacks for not doing enough to hold truth to power as pockets of violence are recorded in the build up to the December 7 elections.
However, the Executive Secretary rejected these comments. “We are doing a lot; At Asawase and Ejura for instance we have been there. The two leading political parties had to sign a pact. We organised a programme here in Accra where we brought the various stakeholders. We have planned one for next week but unfortunately the incident happened”.
The Peace Council observed, there is so much mistrust between the political parties which is fueling these conflicts and that makes their work difficult. “We have a herculean task on our hands. The trust for state institutions on electoral matters and even trust among the two parties themselves.
“That is why we think we must engage the political parties themselves particularly at the constituency level. When we had the vigilante dialogue, the key drivers came up one is the mutual mistrust between the two parties either in opposition or in government ,“ he noted.
By Richard Bright Addo|3news.com|Ghana