The Evolution Of Ghana’s National Peace Council: Successes And Failures

Ghana is among the few countries in the world to have a well-designed infrastructure for peace. Ghana’s infrastructure for peace is known as the National Peace Council (NPC). The present day NPC originates from the northern part of the country where a number of post-independence challenges have conspired to create pockets of relative instability and armed conflict including inter-ethnic disputes over power and control, intra-ethnic disputes over chieftaincy succession, land-disputes and pre, post-election-related tensions.

In a bid to help prevent the escalations of violent conflicts in northern parts of Ghana, Catholic Archbishop of Tamale, Rt. Rev. Phillip Naameh, decided to focus his initial apostolate as Bishop of Damongo on creating necessary structures and processes to address issues of recurring conflicts. With the help of the Catholic Relief Services in 1995, Rt. Rev. Naameh initiated the Northern Ghana Peace Project, which later evolved into the Center for Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies (CECOTAPS).

Significantly, the role of the Catholic Church, development agencies and other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) helped to maintain peace in northern region. One of the roles played by CECOTAPS in peacebuilding and conflict resolution was evident during the 1994 armed conflict between Nanumbas and Kokombas. The Catholic Relief Services, CSO, Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs), including Action Aid Ghana, World Vision Ghana, Christian Council of Ghana, Oxfam International and other aid agencies collaborated with CECOTAPS to quickly complement the efforts of National Security Council (NSC) in ensuring sustainable peace between the Kokombas and the Nanumbas. The early warning signal and timely intervention by CECOTAPS, NSC and other non-state actors prevented the conflict from becoming protracted.

However, the multiplicity of the agencies and stakeholders working to ensure peace and community development in northern Ghana came to face many challenges including duplication of efforts since there were no well-defined responsibilities and activities among the numerous agencies including CECOTAPS, NSC and other stakeholders. The problem of duplication of efforts and the absence of CECOTAPS in other regions provided a suitable springboard for the establishment of a well-defined infrastructure for peace hence, the National Peace Council in 2005. Subsequently, in March 2011, the National Peace Council Bill was unanimously adopted by Parliament. Since its formalisation, the NPC have achieved a number of successes including the following;

First, since its establishment in 2005, the NPC has made significant contributions towards national peace and stability. Ghana’s democratic consolidation has made the holding of successful elections the major focus activity for the NPC so far. The independence, integrity and convening powers of the NPC have helped reduce tensions in the very closely contested presidential and parliamentary elections of 2008 and 2012. Before the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections, a tripartite initiative in Kumasi (Kumasi Declaration) organised by the NPC, the Asantehene and the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) resulted in a peace accord of fair play declaration by all presidential candidates to accept the will of the people after the election. This initiative had a positive influence in the aftermath of the Supreme Court verdict in favour of President John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on 29th August 2013 when on December 28, 2012 the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr. Mahamadu Bawunia his running mate, and the National Chairman of the NPP, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey filed a petition under Article 64 of the 1992 constitution challenging the election of President John Dramani Mahama.

Second, the legal mandate of the NPC which is established by Act 818 has given the NPC the strength of legitimacy to operate. The NPC’s all-inclusiveness and transparency approach has also been very significant. This was evident in the initial recommendation of membership covering several Christian institutions with only one Muslim representative where at a validation retreat to help fine tune the draft law, convened with UNDP support, the case was effectively made for Muslim representation to mirror the diversity in Christian representation. Representation of traditional chiefs was also later incorporated. Both amendments to the draft law were at the insistence of participating members of parliament on a bipartisan basis.

In spite of the successes achieved, the NPC has in a way failed in other parameters. First, among the failures include the fact that the council is not gender balanced. There is only one (1) woman on the board, meanwhile women are the most vulnerable in the absence of peace and security and so therefore, their representation on the board could be significant. The board has not taken into account the essence of the UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 which regard the recognition and participation of women in peace processes and activities that promote sustainable peace and community development. Apart from that, the youth who are the future leaders have no youth representation also on the board.

Second, activities of the NPC have focused strictly on pre-electoral disputes such as the (Kumasi Declaration) and also post-election violence with less attention on areas and capacity needs of other sensitive issues like land disputes, chieftaincy conflicts, resource based conflict. Again, there isn’t any effective collaboration among expertise institutions, organisations and agencies such as CECOTAPS, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, GIMPA (Governance and Democracy Centre), University of Cape Coast, UCC (Department for Peace and Development Studies, IDS) and University of Ghana, UG (Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy), Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) who are all into peacebuiding and conflict management.

In sum, I recommend that, the NPC should embark on a stakeholder analysis to identify and be able to integrate the strategic role of the media, CECOTAPS, GIMPA (Governance and Democracy Centre), UCC (Peace and Development Studies Department- IDS), UG (Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy), Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) as well as all other relevant stakeholders. The integration of the youth and increasing number of women representation on the board would also promote effective administration, sustainability and positive results of the NPC.

Abdul Karim Issifu

MPhil (Candidate) University of Cape Coast-IDS

Ghana.

9th October, 2015