Folks,this is our modest contribution to the call for National Peace.“LIVING IN PEACE AND GOOD HEALTH” PRESS STATEMENT BY FILIAL HEART FOUNDATION,22ND AUGUST,2013,NTC ASSEMBLY HALL,KATH,KUMASI. Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press. Filial Heart Foundation, a non-for-profit group of Health Professionals committed to Health Information for All, wish to add our voice to the call for Peaceful Co-existence before, during, and after the Supreme Court Verdict on Ghana’s 2012 Presidential Election Petition, on the 29th of August, 2013. Health Professionals are key stakeholders in the National Peace Agenda, as we are the ones that take care of victims of violence and civil strife. We wish to point out that, in the exercise of our healthcare duties to victims of violence, we do not do so on the basis of Political Preference, Religious Affiliation, nor on Tribal/Ethnic Boundaries. Our allegiance is to all Ghanaians, and visitors who need our services; and we are professionally minded to triage patients according to clinically and objectively assessed urgency of care. We therefore do not have in our vocabulary ‘Preferred Patients’; we stand for all! While it is fair to admit that citizens may have preferences in National Exercises that involve ‘choosing’ or ’selecting’, it should be appreciated by all and sundry that people, including Health Professionals, are capable of performing their core duties and contribute to national issues of interest in a non-partisan manner. It is therefore unfair and unrealistic, that one should be ‘Neutral’ instead of being ‘Impartial’ as regards matters of significant state interest. We in Filial Heart Foundation, will therefore not be perturbed by any sectarian commentary or attack on our exercise this afternoon. This afternoon, we appeal to ALL GHANAIANS and interest groups, to RESPECT the forthcoming Supreme Court Verdict, even if they DISAGREE with it, from their point of view and expectation! Let us strive, in our hearts and minds, to engage in only civil and lawful actions, irrespective of our ‘fulfillment’ or ‘disappointment’, as the case may be, in respect of the Supreme Court Ruling! Be assured that we too suffer our fair share of physical, and especially psychological burden, when have to take care of victims who suffer needlessly from avoidable and preventable civil strife and unrest, in the name of ‘Electoral Violence’ ! We will implore the people of Ghana to ‘sympathize’ with us, and not increase our ‘curative’ burden, by visiting violent attacks on one another. It may interest the Public to learn that, as we take care of victims of violence and they get better, they tend to ‘confide’ in us about the ‘real history’ behind their ‘violent actions’; and this understandably leads us to figure out those ‘faceless’ people in society who exploit these victims and goad them towards actions which repercussions they often times are ‘incapable’ of ‘foretelling’. This afternoon, we are going beyond our normal boundary, and sending a very special appeal to one of such groups of inciters of violence in our society; and that is, “Those who finance political party campaigns and/or who seek various prospective appointments. ” Our practice experience shows that these constitute the group, that tends to urge political leaders and actors unto dizzy heights of near inexplicability, causing them not to accept election results, or to indulge in ‘unorthodox’ acts to ‘facilitate’ electoral victory!!! We urge these persons, to put the supreme interest of the Nation Ghana above their ‘parochial’ interest, and put a halt to any plans that they may be designing to foster social instability in the country, especially post supreme court verdict. Though the call for National Peace and Social Cohesion appears completely ‘flogged’, we of Filial Heart Foundation, nonetheless, will call on the Security Forces and the General Populace to pay attention to the above mentioned group, and institute collaborative-preventive measures to forestall any potential ‘mischief’ that could emanate from their camp! We congratulate the political leaders of the NDC and NPP, on their publicly declared commitment to peace, and further urge them to ‘resist’ any temptation from people in their fold who may want to foment trouble, post verdict declaration, including those nursing ambitions of appointments/favours and those unwilling to give up same. We also wish to take congratulatory note of the Supreme Court’s mature way of handling the Election Petition thus far, and encourage the Justices to ‘finish well’. To the NPP and NDC Communication Teams/Commentators, they should remember that the Nation Ghana is one that we all love equally, and hence desire in same measure, to contribute to its progress and wellbeing. They should therefore do well to be patient with, and tolerant of Professional Bodies who may wish to contribute their knowledge and skill to enhancing the National Agenda, and not appear to want to drive such professional input into the periphery of National Discourse. After all, Ghana belongs to all of us ! We end this afternoon’s encounter with a call to all Ghanaians and well wishers, to choose civility over strife before, during, and after the Supreme Court verdict, even in the face of extreme provocation and let Ghana be the ultimate winner; with its citizenry and inhabitants co-habiting in PEACE and in GOOD HEALTH ! Long live Ghana in Freedom and Justice ! God bless us all ! For and on behalf of FILIAL HEART FOUNDATION, Ernest K.P. Kwarko(MD,MPH) Executive Director
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 20:28:30 +0000
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