Hohoe (V/R), Oct. 3, GNA – Mr Ernest Amedior, Hohoe Municipal Director, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has called on parents to carry out their responsibilities effectively despite their busy schedules.
He noted that most parents did not know what their children went through and the kind of groups the children associated with at their blind side.
Mr Amedior addressing participants at a town hall meeting organised by the Commission in partnership with the National Security Ministry, noted that children who lacked effective parenting became vulnerable to vigilante groups.
He urged parents to make time for their children, monitor their activities and what they developed interests in, and their engagements on social media.
The Director, who spoke on the importance of unity, noted that despite the differences in race, religion and ethnic background, there was the need to foster national unity and to live in harmony.
He said the nation would not develop in the absence of unity since unity was strength, adding that there was the need to educate the citizenry on ways they could prevent violence wherever they found themselves.
Mr Oliver Nyasem, Hohoe Municipal Security Liaison Officer, noted that security was a collective responsibility and urged the participants to offer information to the police to help in addressing extremist activities.
He cautioned participants on how they displayed vital information about themselves and their children, families and daily activities on social media, which could be a guide for criminal minded people and making them vulnerable to extremist activities.
The participants during an open forum noted that the community’s response to formation of watchdogs were discouraging, which needed to be looked at effectively.
They urged the police to protect the identity of whistleblowers.
They also called for the establishment of a second-cycle institution preferably a technical school to equip students with employable skills, since some students would want to pursue apprenticeship courses.
The participants noted that chieftaincy related issues were largely the cause of conflict in many communities in the Municipality.
Mr Kenneth Kponor, Volta Regional Director of the Commission, urged the participants to always get involved in activities that would ensure security of their communities, adding that, citizens needed to be security conscious in their daily activities.
He said market women and traders as well as churches, must step up efforts to monitor new changes in their environment and always get in touch with the appropriate authorities once they noticed anything unusual.
Togbe Adzofuwusu IV, Divisional Chief of Gbi-Atabu noted that the only way to stand against extremist activities was to be united.
He commended the NCCE for the programme and the participants for partaking in the meeting.
GNA