Adaklu Waya (V/R), Aug. 28, GNA – Participants at a one day Youth Activists Peace Workshop identified discrimination, neglect and tribalism as harbingers of violence, extremism, conflicts and secession.
Others they said were deprivation, unemployment and poverty, absence of justice and rule of law.
The workshop was organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in collaboration with the Peace Council and Ministry for National Security (MNS).
It was funded by the MNS and attended by representatives of Associations of Okada Riders, hairdressers, barbers, tailors and seamstresses, students, traditional leaders, market women, some youth groups of churches and communities in the Adaklu District.
It was to sensitize participants on the dangers of violence, extremism and war and the need for peace in the country.
The participants are to serve as peer educators and ambassadors of peace in their associations, communities, schools and churches.
Mr. Harrison Kofi Belle, a former Volta Regional Director of NCCE and a lecturer at the E.P. University in Ho, reminded the youth that Ghana had become the beacon of hope for other African countries due to its democratic stability and peace.
He therefore urged Ghanaians, especially the youth not to avail themselves to be used as instruments of destruction by self-seeking individuals to derail the democratic dividends gained by the country.
“Do not give the opportunity to any group of persons or individuals to derail our gains and destroy the country,” he advised.
Mr. Belle noted that “we can only protect our democratic gains through national cohesion, tolerance and peaceful coexistence”.
He urged Ghanaians to see the country’s Constitution as a valuable document, adding that nobody was allowed to operate outside it.
Mr. Michael Afeti, a National Security Operative, advised the youth to distance themselves from violence, terrorism and extremism.
He said those going round with the promise to recruit them into the security services were operatives of terrorist and secessionist groups, saying the security services advertise their recruitments.
He said such operatives also enticed the youth with huge sums of money and juicy promises and advised them not to be swayed by those promises.
Mr. Alex Adade Yeboah, Assistant Superintendent of Police, who was the immediate past Ho Municipal Police Commander, reminded the youth that vigilantism was proscribed by an act of Parliament and urged them to respect the Public Order Act.
Mr. Francis Asamany, Adaklu District Director of NCCE, urged the youth to be vigilant in their communities and report any suspicious person or groups to the police.
Togbe Komasi II, Chief of Adaklu Kpodzi who chaired the function, urged all tribes in the country not to look mean at each other and also called on the government to help solve the unemployment crisis in the country “as the devil finds work for the ideal hand”.
A video of the destruction of war in an African country was shown to the participants.
GNA