we lack funding – Peace Council

Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Peace Council, Professor Seth Opuni Asiamah has stated that, if Ghana is serious about having an effective and efficient National Peace Council, then resources must be made available to it for performance of its functions.

“If we are serious about having a Peace Council that is able to as it were do the work that we expect of them, then the State that established them by an Act of Parliament ought to be able to make resources available for the council to work.”

According to him, even though they are doing their best, they have challenges as a result of lack of the necessary funding.

Professor Asiamah who was speaking on Newsbreak added that the problem of funding also existed at the national level.

“It is not just us, I am told even at the national level we have such constraint and it goes through the other regions where we have the Peace Council.”

He said it is the hope of the Peace Council as they carry out their duties that the government will see the need to resource them as expected by the Act that established the council.

The National Peace Council was established under the National Peace Council Act 818 of 2011 to promote peace in the country and to provide for related purposes and the expenses of the council are charged unto the consolidation fund according to Section 23 of the Act.

The Regional Peace Council began a two day-tour at some Limited Voters Registration centers in the Ashanti Region to ascertain the level of sanity at the various centers and advised the party agents present on ensuring free and fair elections.

The council later called on the Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, Mr. Serebour Quaicoo on their findings at the various centers they visited.

The Regional Chairman further stated that the panel which was to be formed by the EC to interrogate persons who were challenged during the exercise was a bit onerous. “This is a bit onerous because these are little boys and girls, eighteen, nineteen years old some of whom were in school, and we expect that they would leave school on Friday, come to the office of the Electoral Commission just to come and justify why they should be registered with their own pocket money. I am sure most of them will not be willing to come”, he stressed.

Professor Asiamah said the Council had advised the Director to rather move the panel to the localities where the challenges were made to make them easily accessible to persons who were challenged.