President of the Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC), Most Rev. Mathew Gyamfi is encouraging the Ghanaian public to reject politicians who use intemperate language and incite violence among their followers.
In his view, the country does not belong to these politicians and therefore, they cannot hold the whole country to ransom because of their political ambition.
He cautioned political actors who tend to use excessive and unrestrained speeches to be mindful not to destroy the peace the nation is enjoying but rather be circumspect.
His reaction follows comments from NPP’s Bryan Acheampong and responses from the NDC’s Malik Basintale.
Bryan Acheampong, the Minister of Food and Agriculture who doubles as MP for Abetifi stated that the NDC would never win the 2024 elections, regardless of their efforts. In response, the Deputy National Communications Officer of the opposition NDC, Malik Basintale, said “… let him refuse to hand over power, and he will see what happens. When iron meets iron, you will see fire.”
According to the Revend the citizens are not that gullible to fall for everything that these political parties will say or tell them to do.
Speaking on Joy News AM Show, he said “what I am saying is that they should respect Ghanaians, and they should realize that we are smart and intelligent enough and they should not think that by just saying anything Ghanaians will fall for that…why is it that you want to lead and you use language to incite us so that whether you win or do not win you cause us to harm ourselves…
Ghanaians should rise up. When people start using such language, we should punish them by the way we vote.”
He further questioned why political actors always cause a tense political atmosphere during elections inciting fear and violence through their comments.
“Why is it that during every election time there is tension? And you destroy the peace of the entire country making us anxious?” he quizzed.
“We recently had a meeting about two weeks ago on the election, we invited many civil societies, we invited the political parties to be there to witness what is going on at the grassroots. Unfortunately, they didn’t turn up…the two major political parties the NPP and the NDC they did not come for the meeting…”
He however added that the Bishops have not given up and are resorting to other strategies to engage the public and also reach the political actors to consent to a peaceful and fair elections.
The Reverend revealed that together with Muslim leaders and other Christian denominational leaders, they are educating their membership to desist from all forms of political violence.
Rev. Gyamfi noted that the GCBC is very concerned because when the political tensions build up and it is not controlled there would be an explosion and all Ghanaians will have to suffer the consequences.