The executive secretary of the National Peace Council (NPC) in the Brong Ahafo region, Alhaji Suallah Abdallah has described as worrying the absence of media representation on the council.
Alhaji Suallah said the critical role media plays in ensuring peace and national cohesion warrants their presence on the council and their absence needs to be looked at seriously.
Alhaji Suallah was presenting a topic; “The role of media in conflict management and peace building” at a two-day training for journalists from Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions on the 2016 elections organized by the Legal Resource Center with support from the British High Commission in Sunyani.
He noted that the lack of unbiased information was a recipe for confusion which could lead to conflict in society. He explained that when people find themselves in such dilemmas, they become restless and desperate for any eventuality. He told news men that most conflicts in Ghana are managed by the authorities instead of resolving them.
Most conflicts, he said, are avoidable if the intelligence system is working effectively. Alhaji Suallah challenged the media especially those from conflict prone areas to raise questions about the effectiveness of Ghana’s security intelligence system in not nipping the issues in the bud.
He also attributed the numerous conflict issues to the way and manner journalists report them and urged them not to be jack-of-all trades and master of none, but instead specialize in conflict reporting.
He suggested the introduction of what he called peace journalism in the Ghanaian media landscape for interested practitioners to focus only on promoting peaceful co-existence. Citing recent conflicts between Fulani herdsmen and residents of Agogo and Tafo disturbances both in Ashanti region as examples, the Brong-Ahafo NPC executive secretary cautioned journalists to be extra careful in the way they report on such matters in order not to inflame passions.
Some participants raised concerns about journalists’ own safety in reporting on conflict, security and reluctance of some members of the public to cooperate with the media in their line of duties.
Executive Director of Legal Resource Center (LRC), Daphne Lariba Nabila explained that the Center’s activity this year among other things is fostering peace ahead of the 2016 general elections.
LRC she said has been working on legal issues after every presidential and parliamentary elections and is currently developing learning materials for local languages such as Dagbani, Wale, Grune, Hausa, Twi and Ga for the understanding of every Ghanaian.
Lawyer Nabila observed that Ghana has perfect laws but the implementation was always the major problem and that the only way to ensure the implementation of law is educating the citizenry on basic legal issues. Lawyer Nabila was not happy that media and even aggrieved parties in elections particularly parliamentary aspirants abandon the issues at the courts.
Lawyer Nabila who took journalists through electoral laws, offenses and punishment of people who violate electoral rules, urged all stakeholders to ensure incident free 2016 elections. She also urged all political parties and aggrieved parties in the upcoming elections to resort to courts and not think about violence.
