Let’s prioritise prevailing peace ahead of 2024 elections – NPP General Secretary

Justin Kodua Frimpong, the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has advised journalists and media practitioners to prioritise the country's prevailing peace ahead of the 2024 election.

Frimpong emphasised that the media could unmake the nation and, therefore, asked practitioners to always sieve their stories and media content in order not to cause tensions, trigger violence and disturb national peace and stability.

He said the NPP cherished media freedom and was ever ready to ensure a violent-free general election, hence the need for the media to remain circumspect in their reportage to not create unnecessary tensions in the country.

Frimpong gave the advice when he addressed the Ahafo Media Conference held at Goaso in the Ahafo Region.

A group of media practitioners came together to organise the conference on the theme: "Development of the Ahafo Region: The Role of Media", attended by 45 journalists and media practitioners in the region.

Frimpong indicated that the NPP was not in any position to do anything that would destabilise the country and derail the government's achievements.

He said the Party strongly believed that its flagbearer, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, could lead the Party to political victory in the next general election because of the exceptional performance and achievements of President Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo's government.

"In fact, whatever the majority of the Ghanaian voting population would say or decide, we are ready to accept when they go to the ballot," he stressed.

Touching on the theme for the conference, Frimpong said it was the media's responsibility to work hard to deepen national peace and social cohesion, saying that without peace, there was no way the country could develop as anticipated.

He said the NPP valued and had a proven track record of enhancing and safeguarding the rights of the media, saying the repealing of the criminal libel law by former President John Agyekum Kufuor's government attested to the Party's promotion of media freedom.

Kodua said the repeal of the criminal libel law had, in one way or the other, contributed immensely towards the growth and development of the media, saying, "If you have any appreciation to show, then give it to the former President Kufuor and the successive NPP
administrations."

George Yaw Boakye, the Ahafo Regional Minister, highlighted some achievements of the government, saying the majority of the road networks in the region had been reshaped while physical infrastructure development, especially in health and education, had also been improved.

He commended the media in the region for propagating numerous social and poverty intervention policies and programmes to the masses and encouraging them to use their space to project the region's economic potential.

Boakye said the region had numerous economic prospects that could attract both foreign and local investors and reminded the media that it was their collective responsibility to showcase such potential locally and internationally.