Adopt “consensus-building and dialogue” ahead of Election 2020 – head of UNOWAS charges parties
The head of UNOWAS, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, has charged political parties to embrace consensus-building in the lead-up to the elections
The Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mohamed Ibn Chambas, has entreated political parties and political actors in Ghana to embrace the principles of negotiation, consensus building and dialogue before, in the course of, and after Ghana’s 7 December 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.
The UN envoy made the call when he delivered the keynote address on 21 October 2020 at the first session of the Second Season of the Law and Ethics Web Series, organised by the African Centre of International Criminal Justice (ACICJ) and the African Centre on Law and Ethics (ACLE), both based at the GIMPA Faculty of Law, at the GIMPA Executive Conference Centre.
The theme for the session was “The United Nations at 75: The Changing Face of Diplomacy in the 21st Century”.
Dr Chambas premised his argument on an observation made by the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, at the commemoration of International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy where he noted that the COVID-19 pandemic is a tragic reminder of how deeply connected the whole world is with one another. The secretary general, he said, indicated that “just like the combatting of the COVID-19 virus requires the entire world to work together as one human family, multilateralism is not only a matter of confronting shared threats; it is about seizing common opportunities”.
“In the face of these challenges, the need to protect and sustain diplomacy in all its facets, cannot be overemphasised. Negotiation, consensus building and dialogue remain central to both global and national peace and stability. At the national level for instance, stakeholders are entreated to exercise some of these core attributes in order to promote peaceful political and responsive governance processes,” Dr Ibn Chambas said.
“In Ghana, just like the other four countries in the region organizing elections, these attributes are even more relevant to promote peaceful electoral processes. It is therefore important for political actors, civil society, traditional and religious leaders with the support of bilateral and multilateral partners, to collectively work together to enhance dialogue and confidence in the electoral process and ensure that Ghana emerges the winner on 7 December,” Dr Ibn Chambas added.
Law and Ethics Web Series
The Law and Ethics Web Series began on 21 October with an in-person session at the GIMPA Executive Conference Centre and on the online meeting platform Zoom. The pending presentations on 28 October, 1, 4, 11, 18 and 25 November, and 2, 9, 16 and 23 December 2020 will take place as scheduled.
Interested individuals can join any of the sessions by visiting the Zoom application and using the webinar ID 848-2795-0621 with the passcode acle123.
Various speakers have been lined up for the series by the organisers. The series is being coordinated by Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Budu, a law lecturer and head of Law Centres at the GIMPA Faculty of Law. The in-person edition took place under the distinguished patronage of the Rector of GIMPA, Professor Philip Ebow Bondzi-Simpson.
Wilberforce Asare / Asaase Radio
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