It has emerged that all is not well with the Professor Emmanuel Asante-led National Peace Council (NPC).
This came to light when members of the Governing Board of the Council paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House yesterday.
It was during the interaction that Prof Asante laid bare the challenges members of the council have been facing over the years, especially during the tenure of President John Dramani Mahama.
Issues
Professor Emmanuel Asante complained about inadequate budgetary allocation from the previous Mahama administration.
From 2013 to 2016, he revealed that “all the capital items budgeted for, were not purchased because we were not given the budgetary allocations to meet these needs.”
He said, “We have had to rely upon donors like UNDP and others for our activities.”
That aside, Professor Asante added, “we do also have a problem with office accommodation; right now the National Peace Council is perching in a three-room apartment owned by the GNPC and they have given us three notices trying to eject us from the place.”
Through the Ministries of Interior and Works and Housing, chairman of the council disclosed that they were allocated a bungalow which is close to parliament, but said, “It needs a lot of work.”
He said, “It has taken a long time; we’ve pushed it with, sent all sorts of memos [but] we’ve not been able to find a solution to that.”
Prof Asante also talked about the issue of inadequate staff, saying, “We were supposed to have about 85 all over the country, given the Regional Peace Council and the District Peace Council, [but] at the moment, we only have 27 out of the 85.”
Appreciation
An obviously surprised President Akufo-Addo could not but thank the council for the invaluable services it has provided and continues to provide the nation in the area of maintenance of peace in the face of these challenges.
Commitment
President Akufo-Addo indicated his willingness to assist the council to secure an office and the needed budgetary allocation to aid its operations.
He, therefore, stressed his readiness to talk to the appropriate quarters to see how best they can assist the council, saying, “You have the support of this government in the work that you are doing; it is in the interest of all of us that this country should be in peace.
“You have our support in also preaching against impunity in our society; the people who commit offences, whoever they are, whatever side of the political divide they are, if they fall foul of the criminal law, if they do acts that are intended to disturb the peace our society, the peace of our nation, its stability, its coherence, they should be held accountable for their actions and that should be said and done without prejudice to who is the author, the colour of whoever is the author of the act in question.”
Charge
The president also urged members of the council to accept criticisms in good faith.
He was particularly excited about the council’s ability to produce what they call ‘conflict map,’ adding that it would assist in national security in the approaches they make towards finding resolutions to these matters.
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