The Executive Director of FOSDA, Ms Afi Yakubu in an interview with the Ghana News Agency expressed confidence that Ghanaians would conduct themselves peacefully during and after the December 7, polls to ensure non-violent, free and fair elections.

According to Ms Yakubu, civil society and other state and non-state actors have put in a lot of effort to ensure that Ghana sails through this elections without any blemish. She said FOSDA with support from its development partner had trained and deployed more than 250 patriotic Peace Ambassadors working selflessly to ensure that peace prevailed in their constituencies before, during and after the elections. 

"We will continue to work hard, but at this point our individual and collective effort is crucial to keep the peace. "We understand that the stakes are very high in this elections, but we urge all individuals, groups, politicians and political parties to hold themselves in check and resort to peaceful means of resolving misunderstanding as happened with the 2012 election petition," she added.

On the performance of key stakeholders such as the Electoral Commission and the Security Agencies, the Executive Director commended their work so far and urged them to do more to ensure peaceful elections.

"The security agencies must be swift, approachable, tactical and unbiased in their approach to ensure the satisfaction of all parties. "The media should also be objective and professional in their reportage, in order not to spark any violence." 

She entreated all Ghanaians, especially the political parties and their supporters to trust the electoral process and the democratic structures put in place to ensure peaceful, free and fair elections. “We need to have faith in the systems we have put in place as a nation and work together to strengthen them. Violence should not be an option," she said.