About five hundred residents of the Ashaiman constituency on Wednesday embarked on a two-hour peace walk, with a call on followers of the eight political parties contesting the December 2008 elections, to observe peace, before, during and after the election.
Participants of the exercise wore paraphernalia of the Convention People's Party (CPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC), People's National Convention (PNC), New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), holding placards to show their unity, despite their political affiliations.
Some of the placards read; "Rich man's war, poor man's blood", "peace is the final frontier", "your political opponent is not your enemy", "if we fight where shall we run to?" and "no clashes in Ashaiman."
The peace walk was organized by the Ashaiman Divisional Council in conjunction with the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA), as part of a week-long programme to mark the 'Ashaiman Day Celebration'.
With the exception of Mr Alfred Agbesi, parliamentary candidate of the NDC, who was represented by Mr Sufferman Daniels, Communication Director of the party in the constituency, four parliamentary candidates contesting the constituency seat led the march through the principal streets of the municipality.
The candidates are Mr Francis Anginatoe of the NPP, Mr Samson Awingobit contesting on the PNC ticket, Mr John Afedo, DFP and Isaac Phoyan of the CPP.
After the walk, the candidates took turns to address the participants, which included school children, traders, assembly members, Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association (GHABA), youth groups, personnel of the Ghana National fire Service and the Police Service.
All the candidates appealed to the residents to tolerate each others views, to ensure peace in the constituency.
They said the outbreak of violence in the constituency would not help in the development of the new municipality, since it would confirm people's perception of Ashaiman's bad image.
The candidates urged participants to educate and influence others on the unity they exhibited during the walk.