We condemn violence in all forms

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THE Electoral Commission (EC) Chairman, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan on Sunday night declared Ghana?s incumbent president John Dramani Mahama the winner of the 2012 presidential election. President Mahama, who ran on the ticket of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), drew 5,574,761 votes, representing 50.70% of the total, to win the polls held on Friday and Saturday.

THE presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, won 5,248,898 of the valid votes cast, representing 47.74%. Out of a total of 14,158,890 registered voters, 11,246,982 voters exercised their franchise. 10,995,262 of the votes cast were deemed valid, putting the total number of rejected ballots at 251,720. The turnout in the 275 constituencies was 79.43%.

AND since the declaration, the post-election tensions in Ghana is unprecedented as purported supporters of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) protesting the results of the December 2012 polls organized last weekend have been meeting at vantage points in the country. Though they have been told by their leader that they would contest the outcome at the law courts, there seem to be still tensions in the country as many aggrieved ones can?t wait for the day when the legal process would begin.

SPECULATIONS and unconfirmed reports fueled by the media have also contributed to the growing tensions which has left many to sit on tender hooks. The media must be encouraged to report nothing but the truth on the events unfolding in this country and must desist from acting on instincts and impulses at this crucial moment.

WITH the security agencies placed on red alert by the government as a means of helping to combat any forms of actions that can jeopardise the peace of this country, we wish to encourage the citizens of this country to remain calm and expect them to do a yeoman?s job. The police in their efforts to contain the angry supporters of the NPP must are also advised to stop acting on false intelligence and raiding residencies unnecessarily

THEY should learn to scrutinise every intelligence and act based on correct intelligence and scrutinizes very carefully whatever comes into their notice as people would be speculating a lot at this period. Also, they should act with professionalism and should try to contain all forms of provocation as a single mistake from them would break the peace of the country.

LIKEWISE, supporters of the political parties which feel cheated by the EC and the ruling party must also hold their peace and instead allow party functionaries to deal with the issue at the Law Courts which is the right step to take. They should act in ways that would not threaten the peace of this country; we should all learn to stay in peace and avoid all forms of confrontations that would spark violence.

TODAY also congratulates the supporters of the NDC for comporting themselves and avoiding any form of confrontation with their aggrieved friends of the other parties. They should continually live in peace with them and promote the unity that has co-existed in Ghana before the elections.

AS an island of peace in the sub-region, everyone is looking up to us and Ghana cannot afford to disappoint the rest of Africa; so let peace prevail in mother Ghana.

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