Abrepo (Ash), July 25, GNA-Reverend Emmanuel Badu Amoah, Ashanti Regional Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council (NPC), has underscored the need for the youth to be involved in conflict resolution and peace-building processes.
According to him, the involvement of the youth would help transform them from agents of conflict and violence, to agents of peace-making to help maintain the country’s peace.
Rev. Amoah was speaking at a training workshop on early warnings and response, principles of dialogue and consensus building, for Peace Ambassador Club members of the Islamic Senior High School at Abrepo in Kumasi.
The training workshop organised by the National Peace Council was aimed at educating and equipping the youth with knowledge and skills on non-violent mechanisms for conflict prevention and promoting peaceful co-existence.
Rev. Amoah explained that, early warning was the provision of effective and timely information that allowed individuals or groups to be exposed to likely future danger, to take actions to avoid or reduce the effect and prepare for effective response.
According to Rev. Amoah, the training would empower the youth with relevant information to detect and report early warning signals to the law enforcement agencies for immediate action.
It would also enable them to be security conscious and work towards maintaining the prevailing peace and stability in the country.
He urged the students to be vigilant and report suspicious characters to the law enforcement agencies to help prevent violence in the country.
Ustaz Ahmed Seidu, a board member of the Ashanti Regional NPC, said Ghana was currently ranked second on the global peace index in Africa.
According to him, the score also placed Ghana as the 40th most peaceful country on the global ranking of 163 countries, adding that the global rank means Ghana dropped two steps from 38th spot in 2021.
He said the looming threat of terrorism in the West Africa sub-region coupled with other security challenges faced in the country was an indication of the need for every individual to help sustain the efforts by the government to mitigate existing and emerging threats to our peace and security.
Mr. Seidu explained that in times of conflict, no one could be immune from negative consequences and hence the need to collectively work together towards the maintenance of peace in Ghana.
Some of the students who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the training on early warning signals and response would help them gain the requisite knowledge and capacity to detect conflicts and prevent them as well as their management in severe cases.
GNA