Students hold peace walk (1/12/08)

Peace Walk (Met) Read byLHA
21/11/08
Story : Jennifer Dornoo

A large group of students have undertaken a peace walk in Accra to draw public attention to the need for peace during the December7, 2008 polls.
They started from the Ghana School of Law (GSL) and walked through the principal streets of Accra.
Addressing the youth, the National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Haruna Iddrisu, called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to be neutral and impartial to ensure peace during and after the elections.
“We the NDC are committed to peace and we call upon the EC to act in a neutral and impartial manner that will assure us of free and fair elections on December 7, 2008”, he stated.
Mr Iddrisu explained that the youth and political parties’ quest for peace would not succeed if the EC failed to play its part to promote peace.
He called on the security agencies to also play their role effectively to ensure peace and stability after the elections.
He commended the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana School of Law for organising the peace walk and advised the youth to behave in a civil and decent manner while sending the message of peace across all parts of the country.
Mr Iddrisu said they could not have chosen a better theme for the walk than peace since that was what every Ghanaian was crying for, adding that peace had prevailed in all the elections in the Ghana and would continue to prevail.
The SRC President of GSL, Miss Vida Agyekum, urged the youth to live violence- free lives and not allow themselves to be used by any political party to destroy themselves.
“Let your conduct depict that you are one people despite your different political affiliations”, she said and added that they should not see themselves as enemies because of their political affiliations.
Miss Agyekum advised all Ghanaians to cooperate with the security agencies and resort to the courts designated by the Chief Justice for all election disputes.
The Principal Electoral Officer of the Public Affairs Department of the ????EC,?? Nana Kofi Karikari, gave the assurance that the EC was prepared to go about its duties as it had always done to ensure free and fair elections.
The peace walk was attended by youth leaders, members of the various political parties in the tertiary institutions and students in senior high schools.
Schools that attended included the Ghana Institute of Journalism; Accra Polytechnic; University of Ghana, Legon; Ashaiman Senior High and Rahmaniiya Islamic School.
The walk which started from the premises of the Ghana School of Law through the principal streets of Accra, was aimed at promoting peace before, during and after the December elections.
The peace walk was sponsored by the German Technical Corporation (GTZ).