By Anthony Adongo Apubeo, GNA
Bunkpurugu (NE/R), March 20, GNA – Stakeholders in the Bunkpurugu-Nakpanduri and Yunyoo-Nasuan districts in the North East Region have discussed strategies to tackle potential threats at places identified as hotspots ahead of the 2024 general election.
The state and non-state actors did not only identify potential hotspots but mapped out strategies to engage targeted communities to be part of policing those areas.
Security heads, Assembly members and religious leaders among others participated in the brainstorming organised by the Good Governance, Justice and Peace Directorate of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocesan Development Organisation (NABOCADO), a faith-based organization.
It forms part of conflict sensitive planning and training to develop strategies to promote peace ahead of the general election.
The engagement formed part of the Integrated Peacebuilding for Improved Food and Nutrition Support project, with funding support from the MISEREOR and aimed at contributing to building peace structures within the Diocese.
They identified places that had experienced land and chieftaincy disputes, civilian-security conflicts, emerging political party youth parliaments, and the Nakpanduri escarpment as hotspots that needed attention ahead of the election.
Mr Jacob Konlan, the District Coordinating Director for Bunkpurugu-Nakpanduri, called for solutions to the driving factors of conflict so as to achieve the needed peace.
He mentioned chieftaincy and land disputes and natural resource sharing as major drivers of conflicts in the district.
“This is an election year and some people may want to take advantage of these issues to create problems so we need to target and bring together the youth groups, chiefs, political leaders and CSOs and sensitise them through durbars and meetings, for them to appreciate the need for peace,” he said.
He explained that the Nakpanduri escarpment was one of the potential hideout areas for criminals and the Assembly was working to establish a police post in the area to increase police presence to help fight crime.
Reverend Father Yosef Giday, the Catholic Parish Priest for St. Simon Peter Parish, Nakpanduri, said the lack of succession plans and documents had been the major causes of the chieftaincy and land related issues and called on the chiefs to be more engaging.
Ahead of the 2024 general election, he said, there were so many porous borders within the districts and urged the stakeholders to collaborate and support the security agents to properly protect the borders.
“We need to intensify community policing and the people need to support the security services by reporting strange characters within their communities to them,” he said.
Dr Joseph Bangu, the Director, NABOCADO, noted that conflict sensitive planning was key to building peace among communities.
The project was aimed at reminding stakeholders of the need to prioritise peaceful coexistence in development planning and implementation , he said.
He admonished the stakeholders, particularly development-oriented ones, to employ community engagement, mobilisation and sensitisation as key strategies to avoid activities that would lead to conflict.
GNA