The Department of Sociology and Anthropology has organised the second Annual Conference on Social Behaviour and Conflict Management on the theme “The Role of Institutions in Ensuring Peace and Security Before, During and After 2012 Elections in Ghana.

Delivering an address on the topic, “The Role of the National Peace Council in ensuring Peace and Security Before, During and After the 2012 Elections in Ghana” the Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante, called on the security agencies to act swiftly to manage early warning signals of potential disputes to safeguard the prevailing peace in the country before, during and after the 2012 elections. He observed that intelligence gathering on impending conflict was crucial in any the peace making effort.

Most Rev. Prof. Asante, noted that the National Peace Council had outlined strategies to ensure a peaceful election in 2012 by engaging all government institutions especially the Electoral Commission and the Security Agencies to play their role efficiently prevent the occurrence of conflict. He added that the Council would also liaise with the judiciary to position itself to deal promptly with all electoral disputes that may be brought before the courts after the December polls.

Speaking on “the Role of the Media in Ensuring Peace and Security, before, during and after the 2012 Elections in Ghana,” the Chairman of the National Media Commission, Ambassador Kabral Blay Amihere, advised journalists to desist from becoming the mouth piece of politicians to inflame passions through their pronouncements and reportage.

A criminologist, Prof. Ken Attafuah, who also spoke on “The Role of Criminal Justice Institutions in Ensuring Peace and Security in the 2012 elections in Ghana, noted that the politicization of the Ghana Police Service is the single most important threat to peaceful elections. He therefore, advised the government to desist from using the police to achieve its political ambitions.

Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, shared her experience on the negative impact of war using Liberia and Sierra Leone as reference points. She expressed the hope that the conference would serve as a platform to alert Ghanaians on the need to protect the peace Ghanaians had been enjoying over the years.