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Peace Council’s Can Of Deprivations

By Daily Guide
Editorial Rev Prof Emmanuel Asante
APR 30, 2018 LISTEN
Rev Prof Emmanuel Asante

Last week, Rev Prof Emmanuel Asante led a delegation from his office, the National Peace Council to pay a courtesy call on the President at the Jubilee House.

The highlight of the visit was the presentation of a can of woes to the President: shortage of staff and even shelter et al.

Why the Chairman decided to withhold the presentation until a change of government took place even when he and his staff are perching in shelter belonging to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) according to him, can best be narrated by him.

It is ironic that after the service the Chairman and his team rendered to the former regime, especially John Mahama, all they got was a temporary accommodation which has attracted an ejection notice from the owners.

Ghanaians, who until last week when the bombshell was dropped, thought that in view of the cozy relationship between the Council and the former President, the former did not suffer any deprivation – were jolted when the 'confession' as it were, was made.

Being a man of God, we doubt if he made the story simply to win the heart of the President. If only the former President could intervene, we would have been the wiser about what the truth is.

It would appear that the beautiful V8 at the beck and call of the Chairman of the Peace Council, courtesy the largesse of the former President, was a mere veneer over many deficiencies the peacemaking organization endured. Maybe only the Chairman enjoyed. Call it targeted resourcing and you would not be wrong.

Be it as it may, the Rev Prof told the President that the Peace Council is in need of many things to enable it perform to the expectation of Ghanaians by bringing peace to troubled locations.

To the President, we ask that he considers the request so that we would have a Peace Council that is unbiased and ready to act in ways that are in the best interest of the nation not one side of the political divide.

Apart from the furniture and staff, the council requires an integrity overhaul to win the confidence of Ghanaians which it lost in the days when it was quick to query subtly the opposition NPP. How time changes!

It might sound harsh but it is a fact that during the past political regime, many, including us, regarded the Council as selective to a fault in the manner it dealt with issues in the country. Issues which bordered on the NPP were treated with a sledgehammer not so however, when they were about the then ruling party.

There is no shortage of instances to buttress this position but the Chairman can easily recall examples of such charges if he cares to do so.

In recent times when some of such anomalies for which the Council could have easily issued statements to condemn, it chose the easiest route-cocooning itself as though it couldn't be bothered. When irresponsible politicians made security-threatening pronouncements, the Council was nowhere to be found. When it eventually spoke it was to tell those waiting for it to speak that 'they would not be stampeded to issue statements.'

For us therefore when the furniture and office accommodation are eventually provided, something, the Chairman's buddy did not do when he was at the throttles, the Council should consider living up to the expectation of Ghanaians.

We do hope that he would take the queries in their strides as his host at the Jubilee House counseled him to do when he comes under literary fire.

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