The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has called on political parties to remain tolerant and conduct their campaigns with civility to ensure peace before, during and after the 2024 election.

Garu District Director of the Commission, Samuel Akolgo, who made the call said political parties had major roles to play in maintaining the prevailing peace ahead of the election and urged the leadership to cultivate the spirit of tolerance to promote peace.

The political parties must also be civil and respectful in their utterances to foster peace and tranquillity, he added.

The District Director made the call at Garu during Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) meeting, and it brought together various stakeholders comprising the security agencies, the political parties, the Electoral Commission, women, youth, persons with disabilities, among others.

The meeting, organised by the NCCE was part of the implementation of the European Union sponsored project dubbed, “Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE).”

It is aimed at creating awareness about violent extremism and facilitating activities to engender security consciousness, social inclusiveness, community cohesion, and situational awareness among the citizenry to enhance peace building for sustainable development.

Mr Akolgo acknowledged that disagreements were normal, however, the parties involved needed to employ dialogue as a potent mechanism to resolving their differences to prevent such issues from escalating.

He said violent extremism remained a major challenge and noted it was important not to allow unscrupulous people particularly extremists to take advantage of any volatile situation to destabilise the country.

“I appeal particularly to political parties to always resort to the use of dialogue in settling differences to promote peace and social cohesion, free, fair, and peaceful general elections this year,” he added.

Mr Haruna Ali, the Garu District Chief Executive noted that peace was the most important ingredient to accelerate the needed development and urged Ghanaians to safeguard the country against threats of terrorism.

“I made a solemn promise to the political parties that government will take the necessary measures to preserve their safety, and security in the upcoming general elections. We recognise that we must prevent and combat violent extremist groups and terrorists who threaten the security of our country, and protect our national interests from such attacks,” he said.

Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Victor Gakpey, the Garu District Police Commander, who took the participants through monitoring and reporting threats and vulnerabilities to violent extremism, ways to detect youth radicalisation and signs of recruitment and empowered the participants with tenets of mediation and resolution mechanisms to localised conflicts.

He urged the public to be vigilant to detect strange characters and report to the security agencies.

Mr David Amoah, the District Director, Electoral Commission, urged the political parties to refrain from making negative comments that could incite tension and undermine the electoral process.

He assured the political parties that the EC would create a conducive environment for free, fair, and transparent elections and encouraged the parties to focus on constructive campaigning presenting their policies and visions for the country in a manner that fostered unity and respect among the electorates.