It's a great word, an essential concept. No doubt.

We need it. True.

But we need its actual operation, and not its meaningless, mere utterance. Not it's 'commodityfication'.

But as Ghanaians, we have to deal with it now, don't we?

They have already started the pounce, actually. The industry people within showbiz, masters of the opportunistic art, with their blood hound noses, have sensed an opportunity to use peace to access a considerable piece of market exposure, or even wealth. And so peace concerts are back in vogue.

Stonebuoy, Ghana's dancehall golden boy, the talented, BET award-winning act, organized a well-attended Peace Concert dubbed 'BhimNation For Peace' in Ashaiman early last month. It featured performances from industry big wigs such as Sarkodie, Samini, VVIP and Kwaw Kese. This month, there will be an EIB Network sponsored ‘S Concert’ for Peace too. This will also be star studded and highly patronized, if the promos are anything to go by. There are many others in the works as the pre-election season gathers pace.

It’s business, of course. Man must eat: you can’t hate on that. In this modern age of brand craze and social media boom, when someone spots a trending theme and turns it into an income generating avenue, it’s more likely to be seen as a smart move rather than an exploitative one. Fair.

But at the same time, it’s also fair for someone to play the moral advocate. Someone has to police such ventures, to scrutinize them. It goes both ways.

Indeed, more often than not, moral concepts are used as themes for commercial events without its impact being measured. For instance, it was great that the Stonebuoy concert managed to pull over 30,000 people, but what mattered more on the night to these people? The music or the message? What was its legacy? The reflection on peace or the injection of cash at the box office?

How do you measure the impact of peace propagation? How do prove that your night of music and fun left a lasting impact of peace focus on the minds of attendees?

While the people jumped and screamed and danced, did peace matter amid that bliss? Come December, when ballots are counted and some misunderstandings erupt, are the organizers expecting people to go ‘Damn, I’ve got to go pick up that cutlass and fight for my party – except that Stonebuoy said we should be peaceful so I won’t. Oh boy, that was a great night though. I felt the spirit of peace during his performance of ‘Go Higher’. I stand for peace now. My mind has changed. Team Peace.’

Okay, so admittedly, that’s a humorous exaggeration, but still. You get it, don’t you?

The point here is that people won’t reject violence just because they went to some concert. The concert’s great for recreation, but it certainly isn’t great for education. Put plainly, it barely changes anything. There’s a good chance that those same people who went to jam to beats in the name of peace would be the same to cause chaos when they are dissatisfied with the electoral process. They won’t be magically transformed into peace rangers.

We need to get real. In Ghana these days, peace has lost its meaning. People now just say it without a conscious awareness that they've even said it. It's become spontaneous, automated. And, in the light of this conversation, it has become a convenient means to an end; a promotional cow rather than a state to which we aspire post-2016 elections.

We all know it.

There’s nothing wrong with holding a concert. By all means, do it. But don’t do it in the name of a value as sacrosanct as peace when deep down, you – and everyone else – know that it’s the commercial and promotional boosts that matter in the end. MzBel, the controversial female songstress, will be organizing a concert this month and interestingly, she has not not beat about the bush by labelling it a ‘Peace’ thing. She’s cut to the chase and admitted it’s a concert to support President John Mahama and also to give underground acts a chance to ride on the electoral season to attain exposure. Her motivations are vain, yes, but at least she is being honest, going straight to the point. Maybe the others could do same.

Surely, there are better, more practical ways in which peace can be preached. And we should be more concerned with making peace an actually possibility during such a volatile season rather than just a worthless cliché.