A former UN Senior Governance Advisor, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah, has expressed concerns regarding the conditions outlined by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) before signing the election peace pact.
According to him, the NDC’s actions and demands suggest an intent to undermine the election process.
Speaking on JoyNews’ UpFront on Wednesday, August 21, Prof Agyeman-Duah stated that while he sympathised with the NDC’s concerns, their demands are unrealistic.
“Even though I have to say I do sympathise with the concerns raised by the NDC, I do sympathise with them because truly it’s not been fair that these incidents that happened in the past were not properly addressed especially if the president himself has set up a commission – and even if you rejected some aspects, what about those aspects that were not rejected.
“So I seriously sympathise with the NDC but those conditions that were made, I think it’s very unrealistic. You want the Chief Justice to come and sign, you want the Attorney-General to sign, you want the IGP to sign,” he said.
His comment comes after the Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, reiterated the party’s stance not to commit to any peace pact ahead of the 2024 General Elections.
During a meeting with the National Peace Council on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, he outlined six conditions, including requiring the President, the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief Justice, the National Security Coordinator, and the Attorney General to all sign the pact.
However, the National Peace Council appealed to political parties to eliminate any animosity and agree to forge peace as the general elections approach.
On the back of this, the former UN Senior Governance Advisor questioned the rationale behind involving these high-ranking officials and institutions in the peace pact, wondering whether political parties are not capable of reaching a common understanding on their own.
“If you think of the future, think of the implications of such a move that henceforth, we’re going to have a Chief Justice, the A-G and all these people come in to sign, I think that is a bit too farfetched so I do not subscribe to the conditions,” Prof Agyeman-Duah added.