NDC urges NPP to create appropriate conditions for peace building

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Tuesday urged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to create "the appropriate conditions for building peace".      In a statement issued by Ms Hannah Tetteh, NDC Communications Director in reaction to the NPP's call for the two parties to meet to help bring peace to Northern Region, the NDC said it would also play its part in the process.      "We are also committed to ensure a peaceful environment in which to conduct our national elections in December.      The NDC called on the NPP as the party managing the government, and the leadership of the institutions of state responsible for maintaining law and order to execute their official responsibilities and act in such a way to bring peace.      The NDC recalling the events at Gushiegu said three people were murdered in cold blood during the disturbances adding, "the way in which these crimes are investigated and treated will have a significant impact on our collective ability to build the peace in the Northern Region during this election".     "We request that the security forces and the machinery that is responsible for enforcing the rule of law within the Northern Region formally inform the people of Gushiegu in particular, and the people of Ghana as a whole of the steps that they are taking to investigate this matter and prosecute the offenders.       "We wish to point out that it is by their actions that our national motto of 'Freedom and Justice' in a democratic dispensation are given reality and meaning."      The NDC said, it was not raising these issues to stir up passions and emotions, but they wanted Ghanaians to understand that the people who were affected were human beings, who had experienced trauma.      "We say this, bearing in mind that previous incidences of violence resulting in death and destruction from the Northern Region of the country have remained unresolved.      "What happened in respect of the murder of the Yaa Naa and his elders? The matter is still unresolved. What happened to the murderers of Issah Mobila? Almost four years have gone by and yet until date nobody has been tried for the crime of his murder. What will happen to the murderers of Alhaji Zabarima, Nanga-lana Abukari and Ayuba (at Gushiegu recently)?      The NDC repeated that it was ready to be part of a process of building the peace to ensure that events of this nature did not happen again, "but we are not building peace in Accra to take to Tamale or Gushiegu.      "We must help the people who live together in those parts of our country to overcome their grief, pain and mistrust so that together we can all build a lasting peace, and bring stability to the Northern Region of this country.      "We must give real meaning to the concept of the rule of law, and we must live out our national motto of ensuring that there is freedom and justice for all Ghanaians everywhere."      The NDC said it has confidence in the abilities and professionalism of our security forces, but what it was saying was that they were expected them to ensure the same level of professionalism and performance in Ghana as on peacekeeping duties.      "We call on our brothers and sisters in the NPP to do all that they can to ensure that the government machinery that their party controls does everything in its power to bring the perpetrators of these dastardly acts to account for their actions.      "We ask our President to task the responsible authorities to make sure the villains are apprehended promptly and tried in accordance with the criminal justice system, and the laws of our land." GNA