Ahead of the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has launched its Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) at Wenchi in the Bono region.

The Committee is mandated to address electoral concerns, promote tolerance and prevent potential conflicts before, during and after the 2024 general election within the Wenchi constituency.

The Deputy Bono Regional Director of the NCCE, Peter Kwabena Gyasi, speaking at the launch, emphasised the importance of embracing peace to ensure violence-free elections.

He further explained that the Inter-Party Dialogue Committee was formed to provide stakeholders with the platform to take proactive steps to diffuse tension and resolve conflicts in this election year.

"Issues such as misinformation, disinformation and violence could potentially mar the impending elections, hence the need to bring together the Inter-Party Dialogue Committee to address such issues, which often threatened the electoral process.

"We advise the media to be mindful of the information they put out because it can make or break our democracy," Mr Gyasi added.

He urged the Inter-Party Dialogue Committee to speak to the political party actors to avoid political monetisation and to ensure a level playing field in the 2024 general election.

"We have seen that monetisation has engulfed the entire political terrain, and the electorates are not free to vote according to their conscience.

The practice prevents elections from being free, fair, transparent and credible, so we have asked the IPDC to work on it,” he stated. 

He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to be vigilant and fish out violent extremists seizing the opportunity to infiltrate the country and use the election to foment trouble.

Chairman of the Wenchi Inter-Party Dialogue Committee, Rev. Dr. Dan Lassey, on behalf of the committee, pledged commitment to ensure a peaceful election in the constituency.

He appealed to Ghanaians to promote peace everywhere since accelerated development is guaranteed if there is peace.

"Ghana is the only country we have, and we must be conscious in protecting it against violence in any form." Rev. Dr. Lassey stated.

The committee consists of representatives of religious bodies, traditional councils, the electoral commission, political parties, security agencies, persons with disabilities, civil society, women and youth groups in the constituency.