Chinderi (O/R), November 16, GNA – Mr Abass Yussif, the Krachi-Nchumuru District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has called on political party leaders, agents, actors and assigns to bury their differences and work together for peace and security of the state.
He urged all citizens no matter their political, religious or tribal affiliation to be mindful of activities that had the potential to disturb the peace of the country.
Mr Yussif made the call at an Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) meeting at Chinderi in the Oti Region.
The NCCE with support from the Ministry of National Security organized the meeting to raise awareness about the impact of secessionists, vigilantes and other extremist groups activities on the security of the nation.
The meeting was on the theme: “Empowering Ghanaians to stand up for national cohesion and inclusive participation.”
He said activities of extremist groups in West African countries, including Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Togo, among others, were negatively affecting development in those countries and could spill over into Ghana.
He called on participants to preserve the peace, considering the increasing crime, most especially armed robbery and cyber-crime, in the country.
The District Director called on all to play a watchdog role in their communities and other places to ensure criminals from other countries did not extend their activities into the country.
He called on the youth not to fall prey to these groups who promised them non-existent jobs and financial packages.
Mr Robert Boame, the Oti Regional Director of NCCE, advised leaders of the various political parties not to impose their ideologies on others as every citizen had the right to join a political party of his or her choice.
Mr Boame called on leaders of political parties to caution their supporters, especially the youth against being used to foment trouble for one political party or another in the country.
He said political parties recruited the youth into the vigilante groups to cause trouble and cautioned the youth against such acts as they could be punished under the vigilante law.
The Regional Director said the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999) came into existence to disband political vigilante groups and proffer charges against offenders.
He said the penalty for involvement in the activities of a vigilante group was a ban on holding a public position or a position in a political party in Ghana.
He called on leaders of the political parties to use the IPDC forum to dialogue on political and other disagreements in the district.
He advised citizens to turn to the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms like the family heads, chiefs, leaders of Faith-Based Organizations and the district Security Taskforce, among others rather than resorting to the court system.
He said the court system was time and money consuming as there were so many cases the courts had to deal with.#
Reverend. Fr. Dr Norbert Okoledah, the IPDC Chairman, who spoke on “National Cohesion and Peaceful Coexistence,” challenged political parties and other stakeholders to work to maintain the peace in the country as Ghana has been noted globally as one of the peaceful countries in the world.
He said when there was peace; all can go about their normal business without any fear.
On political discrimination, he advised politicians to extend a hand of employment to people from other political parties with expertise and not only those who support the party in power.
GNA