Peaceful Election Is A Social Responsibility- Obuor

Bice Osei Kuffour, President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), has urged Ghanaians to see a peaceful election as a social responsibility. 

Mr Osei Kuffour, popularly known as Obuor, said every Ghanaian must yearn for peaceful elections as conflict would  threaten the country's safety.

He was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, in Accra during a peace walk campaign put together by MUSIGA on the theme: “The Role of Music in promoting peaceful and credible elections in Ghana.” 

MUSIGA organised the peace walk to inform Ghanaians that elections are supposed to be peaceful and interesting, as they are meant to give leadership mandate to deserving candidates to champion and spearhead good courses for national development.

The hip-life musician said: “As we always do every election year, we have put this peace walk together to spread peaceful messages to lay a foundation for conflict-free elections.  

“As a Union, we see this as social responsibility and not an option”, he added. 

The MUSIGA President asserted that Musicians would suffer the most when there is chaos in the country.

“When there is chaos in the country, Musicians will be the most affected, as people would not ask for entertainment whilst they do not have peaceful state of mind” he said. 

In a related development Gospel musician, Celestine Donkor, who is a member of the New MUSIGA PRO Membership Scheme said, the motivation for organising the event was to raise the flag of peace high.

“Whether we like it or not, Ghana is the only country we have as a people,” adding that if Ghana wants peaceful elections they must strive for it.

As part of the MUSIGA peace project, Mrs Donkor said, there would be a peace concert in Accra on December 3 to climax the 2016 elections peace campaign.

She said after the peace walk, all musicians are being charged to use their various platforms to preach peace to their fans.

She advised musicians to desist from dirty and mischievous political activities, saying such activities could trigger division among their fans which could put their careers in jeopardy.

The Gospel Musician observed that, some musicians have endorsed political candidates and parties, which she believes is unethical.  

“If a musician supports a political party or candidate, that is acceptable and perhaps business-oriented, however, if he or she does that mischievously, we can consider it unethical,” she noted. 

Mr Isaac Quarshie, the Greater Accra Public Relations Officer of MUSIGA said, the Region’s branch of the Union is poised with championing good peace campaigns to safeguard the lives of Ghanaians. 

Mr Quarshie observed that, the Greater Accra MUSIGA Election 2016 Peace walk has been successful.

He expressed dissatisfaction about the non- participation of some top-ranked musicians in the walk, saying that their presence would have made the campaign more attractive.     

“We were expecting some music personalities to join us in pushing our peace objective, but they did not show up”, he said. 

He urged all non-participants of this year’s peace walk to contribute their quota to ensuring a conflict-free 2016 elections.  

He hinted that the Union is yet to release the peace campaign music video of the recently premiered peace song compilation.

“The song is aimed at spreading peaceful messages all over the nation in order to psychologically tune the mind of Ghanaians to a peaceful 2016 elections.”.    

The peace campaign tour which began at the Efua Sutherland Children’s plied through the Accra Metropolis with series of campaign messages written on placards.

Some of the messages included: “No peace No election”, “Peace is all we ask”, “The Answer is one Unity”, “Messengers of Peace” and “No peace No Ghana”. 

The project, which brought together many civil societies and organisations was sponsored by Star Ghana and Midland Savings and Loans.