The Lawra Municipal Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in the Upper West Region,Mr Jesurus Ninge Mornarh has cautioned the youth to resist efforts by people to recruit them into gangs to foment trouble and cause violence.
He noted that certain unscrupulous persons and groups capitalised on the unemployment situation among the youth in the country, to persuade and pay them to join violent groups to instigate violence and cause harm to others.
Mr Mornarh made the call at a day’s workshop,organised by the NCCE for the youth in the area, at Lawra, to educate them on community-based mechanisms for identifying early warning signals of crime and violent attacks through enhanced community surveillance.
The event, which NCCE organised in conjunction with the Ghana Police Service, formed part of activities under an NCCE-European Union (EU) Project, dubbed “Preventing Electoral Violence and Providing Security to the Northern Border regions of Ghana” (NORPREVSEC).
Mr Mornarh said “We need to sound this alarm to the youth and continue to remind them of the need to stay away from such people because issues of terrorism and extremism have become rife in Sub-Saharan Africa with neighbouring Burkina Faso and others suffering tremendously at the hands of terrorists”.
He explained that the project sought to rely on community-based interventions and efforts to prevent the infiltration of terrorism and recruitment of the youth by extremist groups and to encourage the youth to be vigilant and security-conscious.
The Police Commander for the Lawra Municipality, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Abraham Amartefio,asked the youth to collaborate with the police in the discharge of their duties, saying that the responsibility of enforcing laws was not a preserve of the police only.
“Reporting suspected criminal activities and persons to the police is one of the numerous ways the public can assist us, particularly in the wake of terror attacks in neighbouring countries,” he said, and advised the youth to be law abiding.
The Municipal Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice(CHRAG), Mr John Bosco Bedi,said “violent extremism is acts of condoning and enacting violence with ideological or deliberate intent,which is rooted inreligious or political reasons, with the aim of causing harm or eliminating opponents.”
He cautioned the youth to be on the lookout for signs of radicalisation and strange behaviours exhibited by persons who hitherto were civil and gregarious and promptly seek help for them.
The EU-funded programme also featured the Regional Director of the Commission, Madam Patience Sally Kumah and representatives from religious bodies and organisations, among others.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, LAWRA
