Help sustain peace - NCCE urges political parties
The Kadjebi District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Daniel Agbesi-Latsu, has appealed to political party leaders, agents, actors and assigns to help sustain the prevailing peace in the country.
He said the prevailing peace could only be sustained if political elites based their conversations on issues rather than insults and name-calling.
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He, therefore, stressed the need for them to be tolerant, patient, fair and respect one another’s fundamental human rights, as those were factors that ensured peaceful co-existence in homes, schools, institutions, communities and the nation as a whole.
Dialogue
Mr Agbesi-Latsu made the call at an Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) meeting organised by the NCCE with support from the Ministry of National Security at Kadjebi in the Oti Region.
The political parties that were present included the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the National Democratic Party (NDP), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC).
He explained that the IPDC meetings were aimed at reawakening dialogue among political parties and other stakeholders on the collective responsibility of ensuring peaceful co-existence as a cornerstone of national cohesion.
The district director said the meeting also sought to deepen the existing collaboration between the NCCE, political parties, the youth, security agencies, chiefs, civil society and community leaders as important stakeholders of peace and security in Ghana.
“If we are to have peace on earth, then our loyalties must transcend our race, tribe, class, and nation and this means we must develop a world perspective”.
Development
The Headmaster of Kadjebi-Asato Senior High School, Rev. Fr Daniel Lenwah, said Ghana needed peace to develop.
He said politicians were the cause of all confusion in Ghana, adding that politics was about development and not conflicts.
Rev. Fr Lenwah, who delivered a paper on “National cohesion and peaceful co-existence as an important aspect of national development,” urged the stakeholders to build on issues but not personalities.
He urged political leaders to provide the necessities for the citizenry as politics was about problem-solving.
Rev. Fr Lenwah said Ghanaians must acknowledge every tribe in Ghana and inter-marry to create and build a peaceful country.
For his part, the Jasikan District Director of the NCCE, Mr Stephen Mensah, called on the participants to be security conscious by reporting suspicious characters to the security agencies for action.
Mr Mensah, who represented the Oti acting Regional Director of NCCE, Mr Robert Nana Boame, said conflicts and terrorist attacks on Ghana’s neighbouring countries and research conducted by the Commission had informed its sensitisation to peace and national cohesion.
Discrimination
The Kadjebi District Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Eric Arthur Fynn, called on Ghanaians not to discriminate based on race, gender, socio-economic or political affiliations.
A representative of the Ghana Immigration Service, Mr Samuel Adjei, charged the participants to help the security agencies to protect the country by reporting those who used unapproved routes to enter the country.
He called on Ghanaians to be vigilant by reporting suspicious characters to the lawful agencies since Ghana was not immune to terrorist attacks.