A former UN Senior Governance Advisor, Prof Baffour Agyeman-Duah, has expressed concerns about the conduct of political parties during election years.

According to him, given Ghana's progress over the years, one would expect a greater level of maturity in the country's politics.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Upfront on Wednesday, August 21, he stated that signing a peace pact or agreement is not necessary because the country did not begin on such a mechanism.

However, he said that it has become increasingly important due to the growing mistrust and tensions generated by political parties as elections approach.

“But frankly, I’m worried because if after 30 years of this republic, towards every election, we are going to have this kind of tension, the political parties are going to create fear and panic by their needless rhetoric - threatening leader to hold on to power or fight to get power, those things for me are very unfortunate.

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“After 30 years, one would have expected that there is some sort of maturity in our politics and that our political parties having gone through all this by now would have wising up to do what is right and what is proper,” he said.

Prof Agyeman-Duah lamented that such expectations cannot yet be met in Ghana’s political landscape, which is why the Peace Council has initiated the signing of the peace pact, making it relevant today.

“Otherwise, it’s completely needless, and for many elections I have observed in many countries on this continent, Ghana could be perhaps the one or so that we have to sit political parties down to put their signatures on papers,” he added.