Private legal practitioner, Martin Luther Kpebu, has added his voice to the calls seeking for the disbandment of the National Peace Council, describing it as a “useless” entity.
“To be honest with you, I think that I strongly buy into this that the Peace Council should be disbanded. They are useless,” Mr. Kpebu has told Alfred Ocansey on TV3.
His comments stem from the back and forth on the signing of the peace pact ahead of the December polls where the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is demanding that certain conditions are met before it assents to the agreement.
According to him, the Peace Council, prior to meeting the Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, should have anticipated that a political stalwart of his sort would bring such an issue up, the reason the Council should have abreast itself with the development of the case before any attempts to discuss a peace pact with him.
Speaking on the KeyPoints Saturday, August 24, 2024, Mr. Kpebu described the Peace Council’s move as a “no-brainer.”
According to the lawyer, the killing of the 8 persons is something the Peace Council should have anticipated from the NDC, adding that until justice is found for them, calling for a peace pact will not suffice since peace is a by-product of justice.
“I can’t for one second imagine how the Peace Council went to meet Asiedu Nketia without having got an update on how those 8 persons were killed. I mean, this is a no-brainer.
“To be honest with you, when I look at it, for that particular [issue], the way they’ve not shown any enthusiasm at bringing pressure to bear on the duty bearers to move on with those 8 cases, that’s involving citizens that were killed, for that alone I just also feel that in actual fact, this Peace Council is really not necessary, to be very honest with you,” he stated.
“They can’t anticipate, you have to anticipate the opponent, anticipate the person you’re going to negotiate with. The death of these 8 persons is something that we should never let go of until we get justice for those 8 people because there will never be peace unless there is justice,” the renowned lawyer added.
Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the National Chairman of the NDC, has enumerated some conditions that need to be fulfilled before the party will consider signing the peace pact being championed by the National Peace Council.
Amongst the demands the NDC is making before signing unto the peace pact a is “the full implementation of the investigations of the incident that occurred at Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency during the by-election.
“We want to see initiation of prosecution in all the violence during the last election and prosecution for the printing of ballot papers,” said Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, in an exclusive interview with TV3’s Christian Yalley.
Mr. Asiedu Nketia has also stated that “we want the President to state openly that he will respect the outcome of the 2024 elections” adding that “we want to see the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chief Justice (CJ), Attorney-General (A-G) and National Security Coordinator sign the peace pact before we see and sign that document.”
‘The Peace Council should be disbanded for the sanctity of Ghana’s peace’ – Sam George
