2024 polls: We won’t sign peace pact until…. –Asiedu Nketiah

National Peace Council is currently facing an uphill task in getting Ghana’s biggest opposition party led by former President John Mahama to sign peace pact ahead of 2024 general elections after lukewarm attitudes, oversleeping on the job, total silence on burning issues and happenings within the political space including deliberate appointments of governing party loyalists and politically exposed persons to the Electoral Commission of Ghana. According to the NDC, it is completely out of place for the National Peace Council to sit unconcerned for almost eight years, only to suddenly realized the need for an empty peace pact without serious commitments to ensure peaceful processes before, during and after the December 7 elections.

As a result, the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has enumerated some conditions that need to be fulfilled before the party will consider signing the Peace Pact being championed by the National Peace Council ahead of the December 7 elections.

Mr. Nketia had said earlier that the party will not be part of any Peace Pact relating to the forthcoming national elections.

He contended that previous Peace Pacts that they were party to, did not yield the desired results.

Mr. Nketia cited instances including the alleged killing of 8 members of the party by national security operatives in the 2020 elections, for which no one has been held accountable.

Speaking during a meeting with members of the National Peace Council at the party’s headquarters on August 20, 2024 in Accra, Mr. Nketiah outlined the conditions as follows:

“1. Let us see the full implementation of the investigations of the incident that occurred at Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency during the by election.

2. We want to see initiation of prosecution in all the violence during the last election.

3. We want to see prosecution for the printing of ballot papers. We have not heard anything on it. We want to see action otherwise they will do it again.

4. The case of missing IT Equipment from the warehouse of the EC must be looked into. We believe they are not missing. Where are the equipment when the suspects were caught? Our confidence in the EC has been shaken. You need to put our hearts at rest that nothing untoward is happening with our IT systems. Look into it. Appointments to the EC too. We raised issues with that. We produced evidence that they were full of NPP people. They are still at the EC.

5. We want the President to state openly that he will respect the outcome of the 2024 elections.

6. ⁠We want to see the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chief Justice (CJ), Attorney-General (A-G) and National Security Coordinator sign the peace pact before we see and sign that document,” Mr Nketia requested.