The Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) has admonished political parties not to make this year’s general election a religious contest.
It said it had observed with grave concern recent religious and sectarian campaign messages being advocated and promoted on political party platforms and at religious gatherings.
A statement by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the GPCC made available to the Daily Graphic said it was a fact that for the first time in the chequered history of the country, the two most popular political parties in the 2024 general election – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) — would be featuring presidential candidates from the Christian and Muslim faiths, respectively.
The GPCC, it said, was deeply aware of the potential tensions, divisiveness and conflicts religion in politics and governance could evoke in a highly charged and keenly contested election such as the 2024 general election in Ghana.
The GPCC explained that examples were not far-fetched regarding the havoc that poorly managed religious and ethnic incitements had caused across the West Africa sub-region and the African continent.
The GPCC has, therefore, discussed and agreed as a matter of principle, and made it an unwritten policy, to avoid making this year’s general election a religious contest between Christian and Moslem presidential candidates.
“We have communicated this policy position to all our regional councils in all the 16 regions of Ghana. It is worth noting that the GPCC has church denominations of well over 300 member churches and para-church organisations across Ghana with aggregate members in excess of 10 million by conservative estimates.
“Conservatively, this constitutes about a third of Ghana’s population,” it said.