The office of the Savannah Regional Peace Council has embarked on a two-day sensitization programme in Bole, on the prevention of violent extremism and radicalization in the context of the 2024 general elections in Ghana.
The said programme targets traditional leaders, religious leaders, queen mothers as well as members of various youth camps and political parties.
In addressing the theme of the programme, each day had its designated tasks.
Gracing the programme were esteemed members from the head office of the National Peace Council, Accra, and as well as Savannah Region.
Addressing the issue at hand on November 26, 2024 which marks the very first day of the programme, Mrs. Janet Sarney-Kuma, the Director of capacity development and outreach, from the head office of the National Peace Council, highlighted on behalf of the chairperson from the head office that, the programme was proudly sponsored by the ECOWAS commission and encompassed a detailed lecture on the prevention of violent extremism in the context of the 2024 general elections, tackling issues of terrorism, and as well as vigilantism.
She further highlighted how necessary it was for the council to provide information to the Bole-Bamboi constituency to help safeguard the constituency and the nation as a whole from also becoming victims of terrorism and violent extremism attacks especially during elections, and considering how our neighbouring countries now serve as living testimonies to such cases.
“We need to do everything within our means to ensure that we have a peaceful, free and fair elections, we are also going to use this opportunity to also sign a peace pact with the political actors within this constituency”, she added.
When interviewed, she made it clear that the central idea of the programme was to teach our locals about violent extremism and terrorism, and also to ensure that we have a very peaceful and stable election without mayhem, trouble, killings, and other related cases, and as well organize a peace pact with the political representatives within Bole.
A detailed lecture on the prevention of violent extremism and radicalization, coupled with Vigilantism and Related Offences, was spearheaded by Reverend Father Lazarus Annyereh, the chairperson of the Savannah Regional Peace Council.
Speaking to him in an interview, he explained that the programme seek to address one of the major issues that we face in the country, which has to do with the porous nature of our boaders, and the fact that we do not have real protector routes in the country except for many unoffical routes that create opportunities for citizens from our neighbouring countries to explore Ghana.
Activities that were carried out on November 27, 2024 which marked the final day for the workshop encompassed development of action plans from various groups regarding how they intend to impact on our communities for peace to reign, panel discussions from the office of the EC, NCCE and the Police, and finally to the signing of the peace pact by members of the various political parties.
With election in focus, a thorough engagement and education was given by an honourable member from the office of the EC, Bole.
He outlined some activities that can breed misunderstanding on the election day, such as wearing one’s party’s T-shirt to a polling station, teaching someone how to vote and who to vote for at the polling station, and as well as disregarding people and rushing to vote when it has not gotten to you.
A thorough education was given on how to cast votes on ballot papers, and also on what to do and what not to do on the ballot paper.To the office of the police command, Mr. Emmanuel Annan, the Assistant superintendent of police,Bole, highlighted some of the measures being put in place to ensure a violence-free election.
According to him, three main groups have been formed by the head quarters of the police, namely the CIDs, PIDs, and a team of police men to patrol and ensure that there is a violence-free election.
He added that, the exhibition and limited voter registration went on smoothly without any chaos under their supervision.
He urged everyone to choose peace over violence especially during elections, and the fact that the police will do an excellent job as well to ensure peace before, during and after elections.
To the office of the NCCE in Bole, the Director, Madam Margret A. Konlan, accentuated some the activities from the NCCE towards the 2024 general elections which included sensitisation programmes for boarder communities, inter-faith engagements with various religious groups which aimed at promoting tolerance and peace, peace walks, and inter-party debates which will enable members from the various political parties to make their manifesto known to the electorate.
In addition to that, she made it known that in terms of publicity, jingles in our local languages have been made at various media houses and are played on daily basis educating citizens.
She finally accentuated that the NCCE has secured accreditation to take part in the 2024 general elections to ensure peace and also prevent violence in the country at large.
Contributions were accommodated and questions as well were addressed accordingly.
The content of the peace pact was then elaborated absolutely to everyone prior to the signing process.
However, only one political party(NPP) appended their signature on the peace pact.
The chairperson of the Savannah Regional Peace Council, Reverend Father Lazarus Annyereh, expressed sincere gratitude on behalf of the whole team to everyone who took part in the programme.
Sheikh Mohammed Kamil Eliasu, a Peace Council member, urged everyone to “ Eat peace, drink peace, wear peace and sleep in peace”.
Source: yagbonradioonline/Seidu Salima
