Youth Activists in the Wa East District of the Upper West Region have pledged to name and shame deviant characters in their communities to maintain peace and stability.
They promised to eschew all forms of violence and uphold peace, tolerate views of others, dialogue among themselves for peaceful co-existence, cohesion, harmony and cooperate with security agencies on crime prevention.
The activists also assured to help formulate by-laws towards peace, unity and endeavour to involve the women at all times in decision-making processes to accelerate progress, growth and development of communities.
The youth activists made the pledge at an engagement with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Funsi in the Wa East District of the Upper West Region on violent extremism and peaceful co-existence under the auspices and sponsorship of the European Union (EU).
It was on the theme: ‘Empowering Ghanaians to Stand for National Cohesion and Inclusive Participation aimed to equip the youth with relevant information on violent extremism and radicalism to guard against recruitment into violence.
The activists admitted that indiscipline amongst certain individuals and youth groups were threat to peaceful co-existence however, national cohesion required the citizenry to work together as a community and not on grounds of political affiliations, religious beliefs and ethnic groupings.
“We admonish other Ghanaians to stay away from violence and not allow ourselves to be used as instruments for destruction and instability to derail democratic governance but we will support and assist the security agencies to flush out violence, extremism, terrorism, be law-abiding and prepared to live in harmony so as to sustain cohesion.
“We promise to abide by the rules and regulations enshrined in 1992 Constitution towards peaceful co-existence and initiate community watchdog committees to support and assist the police in crime prevention,” they further pledged.
John Yirbile, the Deputy Upper West Regional Director of NCCE, urged participants to give peace a chance by avoiding extremist groups and their activities that would disturb the peace and security of the district.
Reverend Father Ambrose Kanguri, a Catholic Priest at Saint John’s Parish in Funsi, suggested the youth should be actively involved in conflict resolution in their respective locations. -GNA
