Our appointments are not political - Peace Council assures

Europa

September 6, 2016 6:20 PM

This comes on the back of claims by the former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana that he was lobbied by the Deputy Interior Minister to chair the Council.

Prof Emmanuel Asante, Chairman of the National Peace Council

The National Peace Council (NPC) has assured Ghanaians that it would continue to remain non-partisan and neutral in the discharge of its duties.

The former Presby Moderator, Reverend Professor Emmanuel Martey revealed last week that when the Christian Council nominated him to be on the Council, he had second thoughts about the position.

“So I told God about it. I don’t do anything without first consulting my friend the Holy Spirit. Few days to the inauguration of the Peace Council, I had a missed call; I didn’t know the person so I didn’t call back. So the person sent a text message, it was the Deputy Minister of Interior, [James] Agalga. So immediately something said call so I called back. He was then at the house so he came out,” Rev Martey added.

“First I said, ‘yes, this is the Rev. Prof. Martey, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana,’ but you know something, the Holy Spirit blinded his mind so he didn’t even hear that it was the Presby Moderator who was talking to him. The Holy Spirit wanted him to tell me what he has for me, to help me decide whether or not to be a member of the Peace Council. He said he had a meeting with the Minister of Interior and they both agreed that I become the Chairman of the Peace Council,” he said.

But addressing a Press Conference Tuesday, Chairman of the Peace Council Rev. Professor Emmanuel Asante said the claims by the outgoing moderator boss are “unfortunate and misleading”.

“The governing Council of the National Peace Council, however, considers the said statement to be very unfortunate given that it does not only undermine the ACT that established the Council, it also questions the integrity and independence of the Council collectively and its eminent members individually”, he said.

He explained that members of the council were not appointed by a ruling government to promote partisan interest but rather “to facilitate and develop mechanisms for conflict prevention, management, resolution and to build sustainable peace in the country”.

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