Sunyani, June 20, GNA – Alhaji Suallah Abdalla Quandah, the Bono Regional Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, says protracted chieftaincy and disputes are threatening the peace and security of the region.
Alhaji Quandah said 19 Paramountcies across the 12 politically administrative jurisdictions (six Districts and six Municipalities) in the region had prolonged chieftaincy and land litigations.
He, therefore, called for concerted efforts to tackle the situation, saying the Regional House of Chiefs must be more proactive in peace building and sustenance.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the peace situation of the region, Alhaji Quandah said rising trend of land litigations could also disturb the prevailing peace of the region if not settled.
He, however, added that the Council had initiated mediation processes to resolve those disputes and expressed the hope that the feuding parties would cooperate for amicable settlement of those cases.
Alhaji Quandah said the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism for conflict and dispute resolution remained the surest method to promote social cohesion among feuding parties, and advised the general public to opt for ADR instead of the usual judicial process.
In the wake of threats of terrorism and extremism in the Sub-Saharan Africa, Alhaji Quandah said the Council had intensified public sensitisation along border communities in the region to make residents security conscious and report people with strange movement to the security operatives as well.
He said already the Council had undertaken community sensitisations at Drobo and Japekrom in the Jaman South Municipality, Sampa, Jaman North District, Nkrankwanta, Dormaa West District and Dormaa-Ahenkro, Dormaa Central Municipality which shared borders with Ivory Coast and appealed to the public to remain watchful and help identify the threat of terrorism.
GNA